


Alliance

by meyari



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, BDSM, Exhaustion, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 09:43:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Batman's apparent death, Tim dedicates himself to finding proof that Bruce actually isn't dead after all. While he's off trying to avoid Ra's' operatives Tim has a visit by a very unexpected person that turns into an even more unexpected partnership.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> This story features a relatively good guy version of Slade Wilson. Plus a Tim who is unabashedly a masochistic sub. Together. Despite everything that they both know that makes it a crazy idea.
> 
> I had intended to write a great deal more of this story but unfortunately my muses abandoned me. I do think I left them in a reasonably good place though so I'm uploading what I have here.

Tim rubbed his hands over his face as he tried to focus his mind on the task at hand. It was getting harder to keep at this but Tim knew that he needed to. Bruce was alive. Lost in time, certainly, but he was alive. No one else knew it, believed it, but Tim knew the truth and he would find proof so that he could convince the others of it too.

But Ra's had his assassins coming after Tim and there was the problem of the Council of Spiders, plus the somewhat horrifying news that he was officially the CEO of WI because of Bruce's apparent death. It truly was getting to be a bit too much to deal with, at least with his current lack of sleep.

"I should get some sleep," Tim sighed.

"You really should."

Tim whirled, staff already out and extended. The male voice took him a moment to recognize, especially since Deathstroke was standing in the shadows by Tim's hotel room's window. To Tim's surprise there was an assassin at his feet in a puddle of slowly expanding blood.

"I shouldn't have been able to get in here without you noticing," Slade said. "Neither should have she."

"Point made," Tim said, collapsing his staff before nodding to the body. "A target for you?"

"Mmm, of a sort," Slade said. Tim could see the older man smirking despite the mask covering his face. "You know why the Council of Spiders wants you dead?"

"I have theories," Tim replied. He turned and shut his laptop down before gathering his supplies for an immediate departure. "You might want to watch for League assassins on your way out. They're after me too."

When he turned back around Slade was still there, staring at Tim with a frown on his face that shouldn't be that clear through his mask. Tim raised an eyebrow before pulling his cowl back up and rearming his suit. Slade snorted, shook his head and nudged the dead body with one toe.

"Not even a word about the killing?"

"No."

"Not going to ask why I'm here?"

"I fail to see a reason for it," Tim replied. He hefted his bags and tilted his head to the side at just the right angle to convey impatience rather than curiosity. "If I were your target I'd already be dead. Thus, it doesn't really concern me."

Slade growled. He strode straight over to Tim, staring down at him. Even with the smell of blood and death in the room Tim found himself acutely aware of Slade's scent. It was a mixture of gun oil, Old Spice and what Tim thought might be caramel mocha but he couldn't be sure. After a moment Slade put one hand on Tim's chest, shoving him towards the bed.

"Get some sleep."

"Ah, what?" Tim asked, allowing his confusion to show in perplexed blinks that his cowl wouldn't hide.

"You heard me, get some sleep," Slade ordered.

Tim rubbed his forehead against the headache that had been lurking for a while. It suddenly seemed much worse than it had been a few moments ago. When he looked back up Slade was picking up the dead assassin and slinging the body over his shoulder. The blood on the floor was already starting to congeal.

"There are other assassins on the way," Tim commented because Slade seemed to expect some sort of response.

"Granted," Slade replied with a grin of anticipation. "I'll deal with them."

"Will it do me any good to ask why?" Tim asked even though he was relatively certain he knew the response he'd get.

"No," Slade said. "If you're not in bed asleep when I get back in two minutes I'll knock you out and tie you to the bed myself."

He slipped out the window before Tim could make a thoroughly inappropriate quip about that being Dick's fantasy not his, which was probably a good thing. Tim was sure that Slade would have realized that it was a lie just by looking at him. He was tired enough that Tim shrugged, set his gear down and then pushed his cowl back again before pulling the covers back.

"A chance to sleep without worrying about being killed or kidnapped is a good thing," Tim sighed as he let the pillows and blankets claim him.

Besides, if Slade wanted him dead he really would have been dead already. Tim smiled and let the sleep he'd been putting off claim him. He'd have to find out what the cost for this was later. For now he was going to enjoy the chance to get some sleep without worrying about assassins attacking him.

+++++

When Slade returned to the hotel room Tim was asleep. Granted, the kid had been three quarters asleep at his keyboard when he'd slipped inside the first time. Still, it was good to see that he could take orders. Slade should have told him to take the damn uniform off. He was going to be seriously uncomfortable when he woke up.

The hotel room was as impersonal as possible. Tim hadn't unpacked anything other than his computer and that was tucked away again. The whole situation puzzled Slade. Grief was something that he understood intimately after losing his kids, wife and Wintergreen. But grief didn't explain running all over the globe on apparently illogical tasks. It also didn't explain why Tim had cut himself off from his fellow Bats when he should have been in the thick of things back in Gotham. Between Dick and Damian al Ghul, the responsibilities he should have been covering at WI, and their various allies, Tim should have been busy dealing with things back there.

"What are you up to?" Slade murmured as he removed Tim's computer from his sleeve.

Breaking his password was a bit more of a challenge than Slade expected but he managed it between killing the Council of Spiders assassins sent to kill Tim and warning off the League ones who came to kidnap him. To his amusement Tim slept through it all as if he'd been drugged. When the kid decided to trust someone he apparently didn't go halfway. Either that or he really had been dead on his feet.

Several hours later Slade whistled low and long. Tim's notes had a second and third level of protection but Slade had broken it, allowing him to read everything on Tim's quest to find proof that Batman still lived. It all made sense. The things he'd found so far and the speculations he had to support it were all very believable. Besides, it was Darkseid. Sending someone to the past to suffer for an eternity was right up that bastard's alley.

"Mmm?"

"Take a shower, kid," Slade said.

"…Get off my computer."

Tim glared as he sat up. His voice was so cold that he sounded more like Slade than himself. Slade chuckled and smirked at him, not moving at all. Instead he nodded towards the bathroom that Tim really needed to make use of.

"Shower, then food, then a new location," Slade said. "I've had a discussion with Ra's, second hand but it was enough I think. He's pulling his people back for the moment. And the Council's pulled back a bit too. None of them want to tangle with me."

"…What?" Tim asked, staring at Slade as if he couldn't quite follow the words coming out of Slade's mouth.

"You heard me," Slade snapped. "Shower now. Food next. Then we find a more secure location for you to continue your search."

"…Why?" Tim asked, this time with enough suspicion that Slade grinned at him. "What do you want from me?"

"I'll think of something," Slade said. "Eliminating the competition is always a good thing. Right now, you're a lightning rod for assassins. Teaming up with you gives me better access to them than anything else."

"And that's important to you," Tim sighed. He got up and headed towards the bathroom, de-arming and removing his suit as he went.

"I might also have gotten a plea from your big brother to keep an eye on you," Slade murmured. "Plus a fairly substantial fee to keep you alive from Fox."

That made Tim's shoulders go tight but he didn't respond to it. He did lock the bathroom door but there was running water fairly quickly so Slade didn't worry about it. He'd know if Tim tried to escape or got attacked in the little bathroom. The hotel was way too cheap for anything else.

As Tim showered, Slade added some speculations of his own to Tim's files, things that he'd seen or heard over the years that stuck out now that he had the theory of Batman going back in time. They'd been noted as possible triggers to Bruce Wayne's obsessions with bats before but if he was traveling in time then maybe it was the other way around. Ten minutes into Tim's shower Slade stood and unlocked the bathroom door. The lock was cheap enough to make that easy.

"What?" Tim asked so flatly that Slade chuckled.

"Guy can't take a pee?" Slade asked.

"You can wait," Tim growled.

His body was imperfectly visible through the cheap plastic shower curtain. Slade pushed it aside so that he could really look at Tim. The kid wasn't really a kid, no matter how Dick described Tim. There wasn't an ounce of fat on him. Scars crisscrossed his body, highlighting his perfect physical condition. Tim turned around to rinse the shampoo out of his hair, sparing one eye to glare at Slade before shutting it and ignoring Slade entirely.

The front side was as good to look at as the back. Slade leaned against the wall and watched, offering a towel when Tim finished rinsing off and turned off the water. He took it, drying off as calmly as if they were in a locker room.

"Used to being watched, are you?" Slade said, pointedly eyeing Tim's cock which hadn't risen at all.

"We have locker room style showers," Tim said dryly as he toweled off his hair. "This is normal. At least you don't have octopus hands."

Slade was startled by the laughter that welled up. Tim's expression softened and took on a pleased air, as though he had missed making people laugh. A moment later the humor went away. It was abrupt enough and full of enough grief that Slade had to wonder with of his dead friends or family Tim used to make laugh with dryly witty comments.

"Hey," Slade said.

He caught Tim's chin, making him meet Slade's eyes. The defiance was completely expected. No one trained by the Bat ever went down easily. To his surprise there was also a hint of need in Tim's expression. When Slade rubbed his thumb over Tim's bottom lip Tim shuddered and swallowed hard. 

'Maybe a lost lover in there too,' Slade mused. 'Going to have to find out exactly how many people he's lost in the last couple of years.'

"What?" Tim asked once he got himself under control.

"Civvies," Slade said. "My car's downstairs. We'll dump your stuff and then go get something decent to eat. When's the last time you had a full meal?"

"Seventeen days, six hours ago," Tim replied instantly. "Alfred's cooking. You're not going to find anything to compare."

"We'll see," Slade said because a challenge was a challenge. "Get dressed."

As he left the bathroom, Slade deliberately smacked Tim's naked butt hard enough to leave a brief mark on his damp skin. Tim jumped and glared but his heart rate picked up dramatically at the same time his scent changed to one of arousal. Slade smirked and went to pull his civvies on over his uniform.

"We'll talk about that later," Slade told Tim. "Food and safety before more entertaining activities."

To his pleasure Tim didn't immediately deny that he'd do such a thing. He didn't say anything at all. Slade powered down his laptop and stowed it away while Tim struggled with putting on his uniform over a damp body and then dressing in his regular clothes on top of that. Once they were both ready Slade passed Tim's gear to him, using the weight of it to pin him to the wall.

"…Yes?" Tim asked, his breath short and sharp with arousal again.

Slade captured his lips, kissing Tim to see how he'd react. He was frozen for a moment but after that he groaned and kissed back as if he wanted to forget everything. Tim kissed the same way he did everything else; one hundred percent focused and absolutely determined to be the best at everything he did. It didn't take long before Slade had wrenched the bag out of his hands so that he could properly pin Tim to the wall. They rocked against each other for a long while, trying to outdo each other's kissing.

"Food?" Tim whispered once they finally reached the point that they had to separate for air.

"Food," Slade agreed. "Then we're going to talk. I added some stuff to your notes. You're probably right about Batman."

Tim's eyes went wide and he shuddered, abruptly shoving Slade away as if getting someone to believe him was too much to deal with at the moment. Slade let him get away with it. After a moment Tim had his expression back to a perfect mask of control. He picked up the gear and headed for the door.

"Let's go," Tim said, throwing the words over his shoulder. "If this little alliance is going to work we do need to have some level of discussion of each other's expectations."

Slade chuckled and patted Tim's ass, earning a ferocious glare. "Got that right. I'm looking forward to that part of the discussion."

The blush that swept across Tim's cheeks was close to adorable even if Tim looked as though he was thinking of beating Slade through the floor. One way or the other, this should be an interesting assignment. Slade normally didn't take bodyguard jobs but it was Dick and the fee was high enough to make it worthwhile even without the other assassins he would get to eliminate. Better still, the fringe benefits promised to be highly entertaining.

+++++

"Where, precisely, are we going?" Tim asked once they had gone down the stairs to where Slade's car was parked.

He was rather surprised to see that it was a very nice cherry red convertible. Granted, that seemed to match with what Dick had told him of Slade but it was still somewhat amazing that the beautiful car was still there. The neighborhood was anything but the best. Tim rather doubted that the cleaning staff of the hotel would even comment on the bloodstains by the window. He suspected that such stains were a fairly frequent occurrence, which was just one more reason why he'd slept with his uniform on.

"Shudders?" Slade asked as they settled into the convertible with Slade, of course, driving.

"Cleaning staff," Tim said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder at the hotel.

"If they have any," Slade snickered. "Wondered about the uniform."

"It pays to be ready," Tim said. "Also I had no intention of sleeping on those sheets without some sort of protection. Location?"

"The Mandala," Slade replied. He grinned at the look on Tim's face, which meant that several hours of sleep wasn't enough to allow Tim to control his expression sufficiently to keep his annoyance from showing. "What? Not ritzy enough for you?"

"I am trying to keep a low profile," Tim complained.

"Don't worry," Slade said, patting Tim's knee and then sliding his hand nearly into Tim's crotch. "They'll assume you're my boy-toy. They won't dare to look straight at you."

Tim opened his mouth to protest that arrangement but shut it a moment later without replying. While he had little desire to follow up on Dick's frequent protestations that Tim really needed to improve his virtually non-existent sex life, he couldn't deny that it would be a highly effective method of hiding. The security system at the Mandala was good enough that Ra's would have a harder time getting in and the Council of Spiders would have a hard time making it through any of the entrances. Add that to having a guaranteed bodyguard and the possibility of mind-blowing sex and Tim found that he couldn't object.

"What?" Tim asked when he caught Slade studying him out of the corner of his eye.

"You are not truly this subby," Slade growled. His fingers tightened on Tim's thigh to the point of pain.

Tim flipped his hand off his thigh, raising an eyebrow. "Don't presume that lack of objection to a logical and highly beneficial – to me – arrangement implies that I have no will of my own."

"I can smell that you're interested," Slade commented.

"You are aware of how much Dick talks, aren't you?" Tim said dryly enough that Slade glanced over at him and then snorted a laugh. "Seriously now, I could probably predict most of your come-on lines before you said them."

"Still over shares, does he?" Slade laughed as they drove into the parking garage under the Mandala.

"To the nth degree," Tim sighed while rolling his eyes.

They stopped talking as the valet came to take the keys to Slade's car. A bellhop ran up and very carefully didn't sniff or stare at Tim's battered luggage or his worn out jeans. In fact, not one of the staff of the Mandala gave him more than a moment's look as Tim walked behind Slade. They all focused on Slade, smiling at him, asking if there was anything they could do for him and wishing him a pleasant stay at the Mandala.

The suite they ended up in was on the top floor. It was elaborate enough that Tim was reminded of Bruce's penthouse in Gotham, though this was a good bit more glitzy than Bruce's place. The curtains were shimmering gold silk. There was an incredibly tasteful Asian-style fountain by the door sculpted out of a single piece of granite. The carpet was so plush that Tim's feet sank into it with every step. Better still the walls appeared to be highly soundproofed which was promising for the mind-blowing sex that Tim found himself hoping for.

Once the bellhop was gone, tip in hand and not one word at all about the very young, very inappropriate young man that Slade had brought back to his room, Slade caught Tim's elbow and spun him around. His bags fell to the floor which was soft enough that Tim didn't worry about his laptop being damaged from the fall.

The kiss this time was just as good as last time, though without the added benefit of being slammed into a wall. Slade was just as good a kisser as Dick had always claimed. The strength was wonderful. Tim let himself melt into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Slade's neck and then one leg around his hips.

"Goddamn," Slade mumbled against Tim's jaw line. "Not what I expected."

"Mmm, exactly what I expected," Tim chuckled. "Though I'm still waiting for that thing you do with the tip of your tongue under mine."

Slade pulled back, his lips twitching as he fought a grin. "He really over shares."

"Dick is the king of TMI," Tim said completely seriously though his lips were twitching as well. "Quite frankly, I could do with some really good sex. Though I believe there was a challenge issued on food better than Alfred's?"

This time Slade laughed out loud. He caught the hair on the back of Tim's head, pulling him back in for a kiss that was one step away from brutal. The tongue trick was just as mind-blowing as Dick had claimed. It set of waves of lust that made Tim's supporting leg go weak and his pants fill out quite abruptly. Or at least as much as they could with a cup under his hidden uniform making Tim feel like his cock was being tortured.

Slade chuckled and pulled Tim up so that he could wrap both legs around Slade's back. "Not gonna get food if we keep this up."

"Pity that I'm just hungry enough to vote food," Tim sighed. "So many stories to verify."

"You and Dick ever…?" Slade asked as if he was picturing it in his head. His pants most definitely had filled out and Tim could tell that there was no cup protecting Slade's groin at the moment.

"Mmmm, I think you'll have to earn that answer," Tim laughed as he unwrapped his legs and then smirked up at Slade. "Food first. Discussion of what we're going to be doing, outside of the bedroom, please, and then perhaps some discussion of what we'll do inside the bedroom."

"Not the hero I expected," Slade said.

He let Tim go but brushed a thumb over Tim's lips as if he was plotting all the things he intended to do to Tim's mouth later. Tim smiled, shrugged and then headed for the door with Slade by his side. To his amusement Slade opened the door for Tim, passing him a key card for the room after making sure that the hallway was clear.

"Haven't you heard?" Tim murmured as they returned to the elevator to presumably reclaim the convertible. He trusted Slade's hearing to pick up the quiet words. "Red Robin isn't a hero."

Slade's sharp look over his shoulder was met by a determinedly blank expression. He could see how that little statement disturbed Slade but it was a fact. Red Robin wasn't a hero. That was why Tim had chosen the suit and name in the first place. The moral freedom that came with it was turning out to be a nice benefit, though Tim wasn't sure yet how far he would allow himself to go.

+++++

"This is… actually very good," Tim said after he took his first bite of the Thai food Slade had ordered. "I might grant that it's close to meeting the mark."

Tim hadn't exactly been delighted by having to walk down the street instead of taking the car but the restaurant that Slade was thinking of was only three blocks from the hotel. It was tiny, half the size of the suite that they now shared, with three booths and two tables crammed into the little space. He'd found it by following his nose the previous night and fully intended to eat here every time he came to Berlin. It was just that good. Better still, the place was empty currently though the proprietor was expecting a rush in about an hour or so.

"Good food is an important thing," Slade said, grinning and waving his chopsticks to dismiss Tim's challenging raised eyebrow.

Tim laughed, eating his food as if he was starving. Given how long Tim had said it had been since he'd had a proper meal he probably was starving. Slade made sure that there was more than enough food for both of them, even allowing for Tim being half starved and Slade's higher metabolism. He didn't bother with conversation until they'd cleared the majority of the dishes. Their little booth was in the back of the restaurant where it was noisy enough from the kitchen that no one could overhear them. Better still their booth allowed them to sit so that they could watch all the entrances to the restaurant. Best of all, Tim had slid around so that they were sitting with their knees together, side by side.

"So," Slade said, "Bruce?"

"He's not dead," Tim said so confidently that Slade had to smirk at him. He got a glare in return that made Slade chuckle. "He's lost in time."

"I believe it," Slade said. "I've seen enough bat-related oddities over the years that it makes sense. Thought that they were inspirations he'd seen while doing his walkabout thing but this makes more sense."

"Ra's believes it too," Tim said slowly and reluctantly. "I was… half a step away from contacting him for his assistance when you killed that assassin. He has things that he wants from me in return for his assistance. It's Ra's. He always has expectations. What do you want from me?"

Slade snorted and brushed a bit of food off the corner of Tim's mouth. Tim's cheeks went red for a moment before he raised his chin challengingly. That was one of the things that Slade decided he liked about Tim. Dick had always been either skittishly reluctant or completely enthusiastic about their encounters. From his reactions Tim was going to make Slade earn everything he got.

"Damn irresistible, you know that?" Slade commented.

"I've been told that before," Tim said with a confident little smirk. "And you will be answering the question if you want anything at all from me."

"I'm being paid to keep you safe," Slade said. "Plus Dick asked. Apparently your parting from him kind of tore him up a bit because he all but begged me to look out for you. The brat was… rude."

"Demon spawn," Tim grumbled, his expression going so sour that Slade had to think that the fight had been a lot worse than Dick had implied. "Still can't believe Dick fired me so that he could be Robin."

Not that it mattered either way to Slade. Dick's loss was Slade's gain, both monetarily and hopefully sexually. He doubted that Tim would want anything more than some good, healthy sexual release but that was all right. Villains and heroes, even heroes who were pretending to be villains, didn't have long-lasting relationships.

"Whatever you're up to, I'll help," Slade continued. "That's what bodyguards do. Given who you've got after you, it should be pretty interesting. What are you up to in Berlin?"

"Gathering evidence that I'm right," Tim replied. He was staring at the empty plates as if they had the answers he was looking for. "No one back home believes me. I need iron-clad proof to convince them to listen to me."

"Sounds good," Slade said. "Berlin museum, right?"

They both paused as three assassins came in. One was a bald woman. The other two were black and Caucasian men, though Slade suspected that the Caucasian was actually partially Arabic. Tim stiffened and glared at them before sliding over and deliberately leaning against Slade's side. He slid his hand into Slade's crotch, all the while glaring at the other three. Slade chuckled and nuzzled Tim's hair while wrapping an arm around his back.

"They trouble?" Slade murmured.

"Owens, Prudence and Z," Tim murmured back while glaring at the other assassins and cupping Slade's increasingly interested cock. "They work for Ra's. They keep trying to 'help' me even though I don't want their help."

"Problems with me killing them?" Slade asked more because he was curious how Tim would react than because he thought they were a threat. They were obviously good but they weren't that good.

"Don't," Tim growled. His fingers tightened on Slade's cock, his nails digging into Slade's pants. "If they attack I won't object too much but I don't want them killed out of hand."

"Works," Slade said.

He caught Tim's chin, turning his head around so that he had to look at Slade instead of the League assassins. Slade kept his eye open as he kissed Tim with plenty of tongue. Once again, Tim melted into the kiss. No matter how fierce the kid was outside of the bedroom, Slade suspected that he was one hell of a sub in the bedroom. Prudence's eyes went wide. Owens went beet red and looked away. Z stared at them with little change in his expression at all, though he did narrow his eyes slightly.

"And the bedroom side of things?" Slade asked once they let each other's lips go.

Tim licked his lips, looking a little stunned for a moment. He laughed once Slade's words registered. "Oh, that's probably going to be highly satisfactory. From what Dick's told me our tastes should coincide very well. Generally I don't indulge in D/s activities but certain individuals, present company most definitely included, do inspire an interest."

Slade chuckled, twining his fingers in the hair on the back of Tim's head. Tim's eyes fluttered shut. This time Z's eyes narrowed as his expression went vicious and determined. All Slade did was smirk and raise an eyebrow at him before pulling Tim over for another kiss. To his amusement Tim pushed the table a few inches out of the way so that he could straddle Slade's thighs as he deepened the kiss. 

This was getting close to too much for the proprietor of the restaurant to handle but he'd taken one look at Slade yesterday and said outright that he didn't want any trouble. As long as Slade didn't kill anyone in here they'd be fine. Slade heard Z muttering something into a mic about a 'severe complication with the plan, my Lord' which made Slade laugh into Tim's mouth. He wrapped his hands around Tim's hips, encouraging him to rub against Slade's stomach. He didn't expect much to come out of it given the cup that had to be strangling Tim's cock but apparently the kid had a taste for public displays and CBT because a few thrusts later he shuddered and groaned into Slade's mouth.

"Damn it," Tim grumbled. He sighed and set his forehead against Slade's. "Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to clean my suit when I'm away from home?"

"Nope," Slade laughed. "Don't worry about it. We can get whatever supplies you need at the Mandala. Ready to deal with your fans?"

"Let them stew," Tim replied. "I think we have more important things to do than argue with them."

"Then get off my lap so we can go back to the hotel," Slade said.

Tim moved instantly, blushing a little at how quickly he followed Slade's orders. As Tim glared at Z, Owens and Prudence, Slade tossed enough money to cover the bill plus a good tip onto the table. He waved to the proprietor of the restaurant and sauntered out with Tim on his heels. Z looked like he wanted to interfere. Prudence was staring at them as if she was picturing being the stuffing of a Tim-Slade sandwich. Owens, on the other hand, refused to look at either of them as they passed by.

"Back off," Slade snapped at Z and, by extension, Ra's. "We'll contact you when we're ready."

"Agreed," Tim snarled ferociously enough that Z winced ever so slightly.

Tim relaxed slightly once the door shut behind them. Slade didn't. He wouldn't relax until they were back in the suite. He'd already ensured that it was secure as he could make the place short of taking Tim back to his home in the states. They still had a lot to talk about but Slade thought that Tim would be a good bit more coherent once he'd had a few really hard orgasms. Either way, Slade was looking forward to getting Tim somewhere considerably more private so that he could peel those clothes off and see just exactly how much fun they'd be having together in the future.

+++++

"You're really certain that this is secure?" Tim asked as they made it back to Slade's hotel room at the Mandala.

"Yes," Slade replied. "I improved their security measures when I took the suite. It didn't take too much to hack into their system."

He was so confident about it that Tim was halfway tempted to take Slade's word for it. Only halfway though, as Tim might (possibly) be crazy but he wasn't by any stretch of the imagination stupid. Besides, Slade's stalk across the room to the cabinet hiding the TV was sexy enough that Tim privately had to agree with Dick's assessment that Slade was sex on legs, score 9.5 of 10. Tim watched as Slade opened the cabinet and revealed a whole set of security devices that were highly impressive for a temporary setup.

It was more than adequate, with virtually every sort of security precaution that would fit in with the existing security system, plus a few that Tim suspected had required Slade to break into the crawl spaces and ducting. Most of it was exactly what he would have expected out of Deathstroke but a few of the components had Tim all but cooing. He'd have to find out where Slade had gotten them so that he could acquire some for himself.

"You tell me that this is all but porn and I'll laugh at you," Slade drawled as Tim checked out the connections and controls.

"I made peace with my geekdom at a very young age, Slade," Tim retorted perfectly calmly. "This is geek porn. Deal with it."

Slade laughed. It was a very nice laugh, deep and apparently genuine. Not what Tim had expected; everything about this little alliance was unexpected so far, other than Slade's appearance and sex appeal. Tim sucked in a breath that absolutely wasn't a gasp when Slade pressed up against his back to pull him out of the cabinet.

"There are better sorts of porn," Slade murmured into Tim's ear.

"Very true," Tim agreed. "And my suit does need a proper cleaning."

He didn't object as Slade pushed Tim away from the cabinet and towards the bedroom. In fact, Tim rather doubted that he'd object too much to anything that Slade wanted to do tonight. Granted, he didn't trust Slade enough to allow him to indulge in proper bondage but there were a great many other things that they could do together. Slade kept on hand on Tim's back as they entered the bedroom. It was possessive and dominant and exactly what Tim wanted tonight. Giving control over to someone else would be a welcome relief after everything he'd been through lately.

The bedroom was every bit as elaborate as Tim had expected. Gold silk curtains blanketed the far wall, shutting out the outside world. The bed was enormous, obviously specially constructed because it was larger than a King size bed. It had cream and gold silk bedding, enough pillows for a small army and a bucket of champagne cooling in a bucket of ice. Tim raised his eyebrow at that, turning to look at Slade.

"Not expected, I take it?" Tim laughed.

"No," Slade snapped. "Damn it, I told them I didn't want the bubbly."

Tim kept laughing as he kicked off his shoes and stripped his clothes off. His cup wasn't quite as sticky anymore but it was still quite distinctly uncomfortable. Slade's annoyance disappeared as Tim's Red Robin suit was revealed. He reached over to unzip it, jerking his hand back when the security system jolted him with electricity.

"You can't have that many people trying to take your suit off," Slade said.

"More than you'd think," Tim sighed. "Usually none of the people I'd want to do it. What are we planning here?"

"Mmmm, bondage is a no," Slade said regretfully. "I don't know you that well yet."

"Yet?" Tim asked just to get a rise out of Slade.

He got a grin and then an appreciative, if deliberately cheesy, whistle as he disarmed and unzipped his suit. Slade didn't appear to mind the bruises littering Tim's body. If anything, he appeared to like them. Slade stepped close and helped Tim slip the suit off, chuckling at the way the cup came free with a sticky sound that made Tim blush.

Slade still had all of his clothes on. Tim didn't comment on it. He rather liked it this way. Being naked and exposed to Slade's appraisal got him into the right mindset, though his thoughts were still chasing each other like puppies chasing their tails.

"Battle?" Slade asked.

Tim snorted. "I haven't had the time or inclination to play with anyone in over a year, Slade. Yes, they're all battle related. Every scar is battle related as well. I prefer not to have anything more serious than bruises and the occasional rope burn. Anything that would interfere with my work is to be avoided so no strains to the wrists or hands."

"Mmm, you'd look gorgeous wrapped in black silk rope," Slade purred as he very deliberately checked every bruise and scar by running his fingers over them.

The touch was firm enough to ground Tim without being painful. He grunted when Slade hit something painful, gasped a couple of times when Slade found some of his hot spots. By the time Slade had made a full circuit and checked Tim's entire body they were both hard, though Slade's pants were still quite firmly closed.

"I think we need to do something about that," Tim said with a significant look at Slade's pants.

He grinned. "Safe word?"

"Mercy," Tim answered, smiling wryly as Slade made the connection. "If I'm able to think about Mercy Graves, I'm absolutely in the wrong mindset for sex."

"Agreed," Slade chuckled. "Mine is Rose. Don't ask."

Tim shook his head no. He wasn't terribly surprised by that. Given everything that had happened between Slade and his daughter mentioning her during sex would be a very clear sign that Slade needed to stop. The room was just cool enough that Tim's skin began to wrinkle up into goose pimples. Slade's hand felt scalding hot as he abruptly grabbed Tim and threw him onto the bed in the middle of the mass of pillows.

"First rule," Slade said as he pulled of his shirt and toed off his shoes, "I put you in a position, you stay in that position until I move you again."

"Understood," Tim said, biting his lip. 

Slade really was as ripped as Dick had said. He had scars, of course, but not as many as Tim did. There were even a couple of bruises that looked like they were fading before Tim's eyes. His hair appeared to be white everywhere. It should have made him look old but instead it simply looked sexy as hell. In certain places as the light hit him, it made Slade look like he was glowing ever so faintly.

"Second rule," Slade continued while shaking his head no when Tim reached for his cock to grip it, "I choose when you come. I won't punish you for doing it but I am going to control that."

"Understood and very welcome," Tim said. "Though I do expect some level of release from this."

"You'll get it," Slade laughed. "Third is a question: Biting?"

"Lots please," Tim said, licking his lips as he squirmed against the pillows. "With marks is preferred over without."

"This is going to work so well," Slade said so happily that Tim had to laugh.

He finally opened his pants and pushed them down to the floor. When he came back up he crawled onto the bed, stalking at Tim like a big cat hunting its prey. Tim bit his lip, staying exactly where Slade had flung him. Slade's eye was warm with appreciation of that, or perhaps he simply liked what he saw. Tim really didn't care once Slade caught one of Tim's ankles and yanked him down the bed so that he was lying flat on his back.

"How do you feel about blindfolds?" Slade asked. He didn't touch yet, just loomed over Tim, smelling of sex and Thai food and still caramel mocha.

"Intrigued," Tim replied. "The few times I've done that it intensified the response rather dramatically but I'd rather not do that the first time I'm with someone."

"Mmm, sensible," Slade said. "Close your eyes. If it gets too intense, open them and I'll slow down."

"Nghn," Tim said or tried to say. 

Whatever he'd been about to say came out so garbled that Tim decided there'd been enough talking. He wanted sex now. Preferably lots of it, with Tim not having to do anything other than enjoy himself while holding whatever position Slade put him in. He shut his eyes and nodded urgently enough that it should be an obvious 'get on with it already'.

Slade laughed.

As always, being deprived of sight made Tim hyper-aware of his surroundings. The room still felt chilly but less so than before. He could feel the heat radiating off Slade's body, even though he wasn't touching Tim. Under his back were seams in the silk bedspread. That scent of caramel mocha was stronger now, especially when Slade bent and brushed a far too gentle kiss over Tim's bellybutton.

His hands grasped Tim's legs, spreading them wide and planting Tim's feet about twice shoulder width apart. Slade pushed Tim's hands up into the nest of pillows as though he was pretending that Tim's hands were tied there. It was an appealing image so Tim decided to treat the pillow draped over his wrists as if it were bonds keeping him there. Tim's whole body shuddered as Slade brushed against his left ankle.

"Sensitive," Slade murmured. "Nice. No moving."

"No sir," Tim said instantly. "Though if you walk away I'm going to be pissed."

"Lube," Slade laughed. "Condoms?"

"Required," Tim replied.

"Good. I'm not worried about it but we don't know each other that well."

"With the way you heal you don't need to worry about it," Tim said.

He gasped as Slade's hand connected with his left thigh, hitting hard enough to make Tim start and the skin sting. Tim could feel the strength in that blow and suddenly he wished that he'd insisted on a spanking. Slade's hand warming his ass would very likely push Tim into subspace faster than anything else.

The rapid-fire fantasy of being turned over Slade's knee and spanked until he sobbed distracted Tim as Slade crossed the room and rummaged through some sort of bag. He heard the crinkle of condom wrappers and something cold and plastic landed next to Tim's hip. 

Then Slade was back, biting Tim's inner thigh hard enough to make Tim shout. For what felt like forever, all Slade did was bite Tim. Some of them were gentle nips. Others were so hard that Tim fancied that he was on the verge of bleeding. Slade found the spot on his right hip where the leg joined his torso that made Tim curse and jerk against his imaginary bonds. The hickie there was probably going to be the size of Tim's fist. He bit stomach, nipples, neck, arms, thighs, Tim's jaw and finally his mouth, all the while moving around so that Tim only got teeth and the hint of warmth as Slade leaned over him to decorate his flesh.

"Good?" Slade purred against Tim's lips.

"Yes sir," Tim panted, daring to raise his head a little bit because he wanted more kisses, more touching, so much more contact than he'd gotten so far.

Slade landed on top of Tim, driving the breath out of his lungs as he crushed Tim back to the bed and then kissed him so thoroughly that Tim could barely think. It was hard to remember to keep his position but Tim didn't want this to stop. He truly didn't. This felt good; Slade felt good. Letting go and trusting Slade to bring them both where they wanted to go was perhaps the best thing that had happened in quite some time.

"Mine," Slade growled once he let Tim's lips go. He immediately bit Tim's neck in a place that would show over the collar of his shirts.

"Yes!" Tim shouted. "Yours!"

+++++

Slade shuddered.

Tim truly was entirely too gorgeous for his own good. He wouldn't be at all surprised if Ra's wanted Tim at least partially to see him laid out this way. Ra's would enjoy that entirely too much. Of course, Slade was being paid to ensure that no such thing ever happened. Actually, that was probably exactly why Lucius Fox had sent Slade instead of his daughter Tam. He'd realized that Ra's wanted to get Tim under his control and didn't want to endanger his daughter that way.

The bite marks were all in places that had no bruises or scars. Slade thought that he'd make sure that the one on Tim's neck remained as long as they were together, perhaps the one on his hip as well. Either way, Slade thought that it was time to move things along to the next level. Tim did seem to have relaxed enough to make it worthwhile.

There was need and want in Tim's scent when Slade slid lower. It intensified as he approached Tim's groin. The lube had warmed up enough that Slade felt comfortable using it on Tim. He entertained the very brief thought of riding Tim's cock but no, that wasn't something Slade did on a first date. Not that this was a date.

"Oh yes, oh please, yes, more!" Tim gasped when Slade spread lube on his ass.

"That my good boy," Slade said in a deliberately deep voice. "That's what I want to hear."

As he'd expected it made Tim shudder and his cheeks burn with a blush that slowly spread down his chest. Tim panted and pleaded in a breaking voice for more, deeper, harder, right there, oh yes, right there! The vocal feedback made it much easier to figure out exactly how to drive Tim wild without pushing him over the edge.

Once Tim's hips were hitching with every thrust of Slade's fingers and the babbling had turned into whimpering moans, Slade tore open one of the condoms with his teeth and applied it one-handed. Tim jerked at the sound of the condom opening. His whimpers went up an octave too.

"Uhn~nngh!" Tim protested when Slade pulled his fingers out.

"Patience," Slade chuckled. "You'll get more when I say you do."

To his surprise Tim squeezed his eyes even tighter shut while biting his lip and nodding. Slade had to squeeze his cock hard to keep from embarrassing himself. This sort of submission on a first encounter wasn't at all what he would have expected from Tim. Either he was incredibly needy and hard up for it or Tim fit better than anyone else ever had with Slade.

"Horny boy," Slade murmured. 

The old shirt he'd grabbed out of his bag functioned well enough as a towel to dry his hand off. Slade set it aside and caught Tim's legs. He was flexible enough to approach the knees-to-the-chest pose that Dick had always loved. There was no chance that he'd be able to truly fold himself in half the way Dick did but Tim held the pose so much better than Dick ever had that it made Slade grin as he positioned himself.

"Obedient horny boy," Slade said.

He slowly pushed in as he said the words and to his surprise Tim only whined. No twitches, no flinching, nothing other than a long low sound of need, want and complete appreciation. Tim didn't even move his hands enough to dislodge the pillow that had landed on his wrists. Slade shuddered once he was fully seated, holding there for a long moment to simply appreciate the total compliance with his orders.

"Hands on my shoulders," Slade ordered.

Tim's hands twitched as though he wasn't quite sure that they could move before sliding up Slade's arms to settle on his shoulders. When Slade gripped Tim's hips he frowned but he didn't protest.

"Hold on," Slade told Tim.

That was all the warning he gave Tim before picking him up and kneeling with Tim in his lap. To his surprise Tim didn't automatically wrap his legs around Slade's back. They stayed tucked towards his chest as if Slade had actually bound them there. Tim's hands did wrap around the back of Slade's neck in a firm grip, showing that he was thinking at least a little bit.

The bed had just enough bounce to make it easy to get a rhythm going but not so much that Slade didn't have a stable platform to work from. Tim shouted as Slade started pounding into him. With all the prep starting slow seemed like a stupid idea. He'd apparently guessed right because within a handful of thrusts Slade could smell Tim's orgasm creeping up on him. Rather than let that happen so quickly Slade switched rhythms to one that was more of a grind-thrust-grind.

It helped hold off Tim's orgasm, dragging the encounter out enough that Slade actually began to feel it properly. His arms and legs began to burn. Every inch of his skin became more sensitive. Slade groaned and bit Tim's neck on the same spot, shuddering as Tim clamped down on him.

Both of them were moaning as Slade sped back up again. Tim met each of his thrusts, doing his best to help Slade take his ass even though his legs were still held high and he only had the grip around Slade's neck.

"Damn, so good," Slade panted. "Obey so well, Tim."

"Nnnnngh! Sla~ade!"

Tim's voice broke in the middle of Slade's name because Slade straightened his legs enough to get an extra pop to his thrusts. He started screaming, his nails digging into the skin on the back of Slade's neck. Someone was saying 'oh yeah' and Slade was pretty sure that it wasn't Tim. When his orgasm finally became inescapable Slade shifted his grip so that Tim's hips were slanted just right for his cock to nail Tim's prostate.

After two thrusts Tim screamed and came so hard that Slade's ears were ringing. Three more thrusts into Tim's ass let Slade come as well. Slade slowly settled down onto the bed again, holding Tim in his lap. This time his legs didn't stay tucked against his chest. They settled down on either side of Slade as Tim rested his head against Slade's shoulder.

'Adorable as well as smart and sexy,' Slade thought.

His heart calmed a lot faster than Tim's did but that was to be expected. Slade waited a bit before pulling out and cleaning them both up. All but four of the pillows went over the side when Slade tucked Tim into bed. He wasn't surprised when Tim caught his wrist and tugged him into the bed too.

"Good?" Slade asked once Tim's breath was even and slow.

"Mmm-hmm," Tim murmured.

He'd tucked himself along Slade's side, one arm wrapped around Slade's waist and his head on Slade's shoulder. Adorable really did seem to be the proper word. Slade never would have taken Tim to be a cuddler. At least he was a calm, quiet cuddler, unlike Dick and his constant squirming. Not that Slade had ever had a scene like that with Dick; it hadn't even been a proper scene but it was still some of the best sex Slade had had in ages.

"You're amazing," Slade murmured.

"Always," Tim murmured back. "Also sleepy. And thirsty. But too tired to get up."

"It'll wait."

Tim laughed and nodded against Slade's shoulder. They should talk about what to do about Ra's and the Council of Spiders. Slade really needed to make sure that Tim had gotten Fox's message about Ra's apparent plans in Gotham. He was sure that Tim had things that he needed to share with Slade, things he needed to check on in his quest to rescue Bruce.

But none of that mattered right then.

There was a beautiful boy pressed against Slade's side and he'd just come his brains out. Duty could wait until after a nap. For now he was going to enjoy what he had right here. After all, who the hell knew when it would all come crashing down around them?

+++++

"A museum."

Tim sighed as Slade ghosted along behind him, gun at the ready. He truly hadn't wanted Slade to come along on this little mission but with Ra's trying so hard to get at Tim it made sense to have Slade guard his back. He'd already ensured that Tim didn't set off a set of alarms that weren't on the blueprints he'd stolen, which should ensure that they weren't interrupted. They'd even managed to gimmick the security cameras so that the guard wouldn't see them making their way through the museum.

"Yes." Tim made sure that it wasn't a sigh but it took a bit of effort.

"Really."

"Yes, a museum."

"You're robbing a museum," Slade's voice was a perfect blend of amusement and amazement. "You."

"Yes, me. I did tell you that I'm not a hero."

The museum was dark and quiet. Given that it was nearly midnight, that was very much what Tim had expected. He'd enjoyed museums when he was younger. Seeing how other cultures and other times had lived was endlessly fascinating. At any other time he would have stared at the exhibit on the Neanderthals for hours, cataloging all the tiny details that the curators had included.

Instead, he moved past the display and into the next room. Along the wall was a small, well camouflaged door that was marked 'Authorized Personnel Only' in German. Picking the lock was simple. To his relief, the hinges were well maintained. They didn't squeak at all. Slade guarded the door as Tim knocked out the solitary guard. He made sure that the man's lunch didn't land on the floor. There was no reason to make him starve. The food would help with the headache when he woke up.

Even with the mask, Tim could see Slade's raised eyebrow. "What?"

"That was the nicest mugging I've ever seen," Slade said.

"Less damage brings less attention later on," Tim explained as he carefully deactivated the security system on the display case holding the item he was planning on stealing. "I have no interest in causing a splash tonight. This is a simple theft, nothing more."

"You're the boss right now," Slade said. "I'm just here to watch your ass."

"Which I'm sure you're doing with great interest."

Tim couldn't resist the comment. When Slade laughed it was honestly amused and a good bit louder than it should have been. The slant of his head when Tim glared at him made it perfectly obvious that he was smirking and ostentatiously eyeing Tim's ass rather than watching for unexpected elements of security that they weren't aware of.

He was all business a moment later when Tim headed off to the second floor of the museum. It was actually a huge relief to have someone watch his back. Tim was used to working with a partner at least part of the time. The loss of his previous partners had combined painfully with all the deaths that had occurred lately. Not having Dick and Steph to fall back on hurt just as much as the loss of his parents, Kon and Bart. Slade's quietly snarky presence eased that pain.

"You know," Tim murmured as he opened the target case and beamed at the piece he'd come to collect, "I was actively considering taking Ra's up on his offer when you showed up."

"You know he's got ulterior motives," Slade growled.

"Obviously," Tim said. "It's Ra's. I know that he's up to something in Gotham. I got a message from home about it and obviously you wouldn't be here otherwise. I just don't know why he's so intent to get me on his side but I'd assume it has little or nothing to do with my goals and everything to do with his."

Slade's snort was agreement and derision packaged together in one little burst of annoyance. Tim smirked. He shouldn't enjoy Slade's presence by his side as much as he did. They might have a temporary alliance that benefited both of them but it was inevitable that they would be at cross purposes eventually.

The thought hurt more than Tim expected.

"What?" Slade asked.

"Loss," Tim replied. "I've had too much of it in my life in the last few years."

He could see Slade's frown through the mask but Tim ignored it in favor of moving the piece of rock and its fossilized batarang into the small foam-padded carrying case. Slade looked over his shoulder and hummed as if he'd been surprised in spite of himself by it. Tim could only hope that Dick and Alfred would respond similarly to the find.

"I still can't believe that you're stealing from a museum," Slade commented as they made their way out.

"I'll return it in time," Tim promised.

"Second or third hand?"

"No, probably I'll just have it 'seized' during a 'raid' of a criminal's site and returned through official channels," Tim said. "No need to get complicated about it."

Tim made sure that they turned the security system back on once they left the museum. All in all he was quite pleased with their little theft. He had what he wanted with minimal fuss and no true disruption to the museum's operations. Granted, the security guard would wake up in a few minutes with a horrific headache and a theft to report but there was no damage other than that.

"My Master wants to speak to you."

Slade already had his guns out when Tim whirled with a throwing 'R' at the ready. He wasn't at all surprised to see Z and his team standing there. Tim calculated out the odds that Ra's had already notified the authorities of the break-in and decided that this conversation was going to be over in the next thirty seconds.

"No," Tim declared. "I will not have this discussion here and now. If Ra's wants to talk to me he'll have to do it face to face. I'm not going to play his little game. You can either get out of my way or I'll let Slade eliminate you."

"And don't flatter yourselves," Slade drawled. "You're not good enough to go up against me."

Pru looked like she wanted to object to that but Owens was easing back a little. Given that he was the sniper of the team, it wasn't surprising. He needed a little more room to be able to use his best weapons. Z was the only one unmoved by the threat. He paused for eighteen seconds and then nodded as he stepped aside.

They left, Slade watching their backs, with three seconds to spare before Tim's mentally imposed deadline. As they drove away, both with their masks off and jackets on so that they looked relatively normal, police engines screamed past with their lights flashing. Slade's snort of annoyance perfectly matched Tim's irritation at Ra's' interference. It seemed highly likely that if Slade hadn't been there Ra's would have arranged for Tim to need a rescue from Z's team.

"He's going to keep bothering you," Slade said when they stopped for a traffic light.

"I know," Tim agreed. "I wish I knew what he was up to. I'd have a better idea of how to stop him if I did."

By the time they were back at the hotel Tim was relatively certain that Slade had some suspicions about what Ra's' goals were. Tim had his own suspicions that he needed to research. He had to make a decision as to whether or not he trusted Slade because that research had to happen very quickly. Unfortunately, Tim was relatively certain that his communication channels were already compromised.

Ra's would have done everything in his power to bug Tim as soon as he was targeted. There was no hope of his getting a secure message to Lucius Fox through any of the mediums that Tim had available to him. Slade, on the other hand, had methods and means that were completely outside of Tim's sphere of influence and hopefully outside of Ra's' as well. They headed back into the Mandarin, Slade with that completely confident sexy walk that Tim really shouldn't be so fascinated by.

"You figured out what you're going to do?" Slade asked once they were in the elevator together.

"Maybe," Tim said.

He very deliberately moved into Slade's space, wrapping his arms around Slade's neck to pull him down for a kiss that wasn't as intense as any of the other kisses they'd shared. At least, it was as intense until Slade's hands wrapped around Tim's ass to pull their hips together. Then it was full force and utterly overwhelming like every other kiss.

"Not a bad choice," Slade murmured against Tim's lips. "Not necessarily the best location for it though."

Tim chuckled, nuzzling Slade's ear while whispering. "I need your communication links. I have to get a message back to Lucius Fox."

"Oh yeah, we can do that," Slade laughed.

He picked Tim up and threw him over his shoulder, patting Tim's ass as if he'd just been given the best suggestion ever. Tim squawked but also laughed because that really was an excellent way to give Ra's, who had to be watching them, the wrong idea about what they were up to. Besides, Tim rather liked Slade's strength being displayed in such a direct fashion. The only problem with it was that his belts were digging into his stomach but that only lasted until they made it to the room and Slade tossed him down on the chaise lounge by the fireplace.

"Stay right there," Slade said.

"Yes sir," Tim said, deliberately spreading his legs just a bit more and licking his lips.

It was gratifying that Slade paused and hummed appreciatively. Even more gratifying was the fact that his pants immediately filled out a little bit. The temptation to strip was there but Tim decided to play this however Slade wanted. Hopefully there would be some communication accomplished between bouts of sex. While there was no real time limit on finding Bruce that Tim was aware of, there were certainly limitations to how long Ra's would wait before contacting Tim again.

Slade verified the security system, turning it on and then checking that it was functioning properly. From the tight look around his eyes and lips Ra's had compromised at least a portion of it. Tim cocked his head and leaned back into the chaise as he waited. After several adjustments Slade grunted approval and then turned a predatory smile on Tim.

"Good boy," Slade said when he saw that Tim hadn't moved. "I think you deserve a reward."

"And what sort of reward are you thinking?" Tim asked.

"Mmmm, strip," Slade ordered. "I want you back in that same position in one minute."

Tim stood and did exactly that, taking off the civilian clothes that hid his uniform and then stripping off the uniform as well. By the time he was naked Slade was back with several pieces of rope. Tim raised an eyebrow but didn't object. There was little point to objecting, especially when Slade leaned in and bit Tim's neck.

"We are compromised," Slade said. "Blocked temporarily but he'll get through again in a couple of minutes at most. What did you want to find out from Fox?"

"Current activities in Gotham," Tim whispered back in between moaning at the bites that Slade put on his shoulder. "Hush's current location. The real reason he sent you."

"Good enough," Slade said in his normal voice.

He proceeded to secure Tim's arms over the arm of the chaise, tying them to the legs. The knots were well within reach of Tim's fingers and not nearly tight enough to keep him from escaping if he so chose. It was a level of trust that made Tim's cock throb inappropriately. He licked his lips, this time in pure arousal and then shuddered as Slade secured his legs so that they were spread wide.

The position made anal intercourse almost impossible but it splayed Tim out and made his mouth completely available for whatever Slade chose to do. To Tim's loudly voiced dismay, Slade chose to step back and smirk while slowly and methodically stripping his clothes off. He was hard as a rock once he was naked. The older man's body didn't show any signs of his age. If anything he looked only a handful of years older than Tim, other than his white hair.

"Objections to oral?" Slade asked.

"None," Tim said instantly. "Especially like this."

"CBT?" Slade asked a little more hesitantly.

"Oh fuck yes," Tim groaned. "Please!"

Slade laughed and wagged his eyebrows. He pulled a slender length of cord from his pants pocket, using it to bind Tim's cock three times as tightly as his hands and feet were bound. Tim panted and moaned, biting his lip against the perfect pain and pleasure. When Slade very deliberately licked the length of Tim's cock it made Tim curse and jerk against the ropes.

"Be still," Slade ordered.

The tone of his voice was stern enough that Tim almost let himself slide straight into subspace but there was still the message to be sent. He glared at Slade who smirked and then draped himself over Tim. That pressed Tim's bound cock against Slade's decidedly interested and unbound cock, driving all the air out of Tim's lungs in a gasp that echoed through the room.

"Going to make you come so hard that you pass out, little bird," Slade purred while staring into Tim's eyes. "You're going to scream for me."

Slade's eyes promised that the message would be sent. Rather than give an obvious instant approval of that, Tim panted for a moment and then nodded. He could get behind that plan. Ra's would assume that Slade's message had more to do with keeping Tim under control than with gathering information on his activities. And if Slade sent it while Tim was unconscious there was little reason for Ra's to believe that it was something that Tim wanted sent rather than something that Slade didn't want him to know about.

"You couldn't," Tim said just challengingly enough that Slade grinned wickedly at him. "Not without some serious breath play."

"I'm up for that if you are," Slade laughed. "You know I'll be able to tell if it's too much."

The simple truth of that made Tim jerk and shudder. He had always gotten entirely too much pleasure out of breath control training with Bruce. They'd never spoken of it but he knew that Bruce knew that it was a sexual response on Tim's part. It was risky and stunningly stupid to play this way with someone who didn't have perfect control.

But Slade did have the control and Tim could get his hands free in less than a second if he wanted to. It would be such a lovely way to accomplish what he wanted, both on the sexual side and on the message side. His hesitation probably looked appropriately conflicted to Ra's, who had to be watching them by now, but it was nothing more than Tim attempting to find some reason why he should say no.

"Yes, please," Tim breathed.

Slade kissed him so hard that Tim breathless and then moved up so that his cock was pressed against Tim's lips. When Tim opened his mouth Slade teased him at first, barely letting Tim lick his cock before pulling it away to rub the tip over Tim's face. Pretty soon he allowed Tim to suck it deeper into his mouth.

When Slade's hands settled over Tim's head it was obvious from Slade's expression that this was the start of it. No more playing. Tim moaned and nodded slightly. His cock was throbbing in its binding cord. His ass throbbed too but that was more from their earlier round than anything else. This was what he needed. It truly was. Tim had just a moment to wonder if he'd be able to give this up once Bruce was back before Slade pressed deep into his mouth, the head of his cock bumping against the back of Tim's throat.

He gasped a quick breath and then opened his throat to allow Slade in. The sudden intrusion into his throat made Tim moan and jerk against the ropes but he kept swallowing. Slade held his cock there for a long few seconds, and then pushed a little deeper still. Tim let himself go as Slade fucked his throat.

Between the bondage keeping him in place, the pleasure/pain of his cock and Slade commanding every bit of attention that Tim had by fucking his face, it was easy to slide into subspace. Breathing became utterly secondary to doing what Slade wanted. It felt so good to let go. Even better to be giving someone so much pleasure. Slade stood astride Tim, hands clenched in his hair. Words of praise and encouragement rained down on Tim, words like 'beautiful' and 'perfect' and 'good', all the words that Tim had gotten so rarely in his life. 

"Yeah, that's it," Slade murmured in a deep enough tone that it broke through the haze of pleasure in Tim's mind. "Brace yourself, little bird. Here it comes."

Tim got one tiny gasp of air before Slade started fucking his throat hard and fast. He was going to be so hoarse tomorrow, so sore, but it was worth it. Everything else faded away into taking Slade's cock as deeply as possible into his throat. There was no sucking anymore; only holding his mouth open and holding his breath until his ears rang and his head swam. It went on until Tim's chest was heaving and the world went away in a surge of grayness accompanied by the sound of Slade shouting and a salty taste on Tim's tongue. At the same time the binding around his cock suddenly eased. 

The combination of Slade's orgasm, the lack of air and the sudden release of pressure made Tim come violently. He gurgled something and allowed unconsciousness to rear up and grab him. As darkness pulled Tim under he hoped that he was right about Slade. It wouldn't be good if Tim had to take Slade down too.

When he came back to himself a few minutes later, Tim was free of the ropes and curled in bed with the blankets covering him. He stretched, assessing whether he'd done any damage in jerking against the ropes. It didn't feel like it. When Tim swallowed his throat ached but not so badly that he'd have a hard time communicating or eating. His cock and balls were very tender to the touch but no bruised or marked in any way. All in all, it was about as perfect an experience as Tim could have hoped for.

He sighed, stretched and then slowly and with only slightly deliberate awkwardness made his way into the other room. Slade was working on his cell phone, apparently typing in a text. Tim smiled and made his way over on wobbly legs to hug Slade.

"Good?" Slade asked as he quickly shut his phone off and set it face down. He very deliberately clenched his fingers in the hair on the back of Tim's head, gently shaking Tim with it.

"Very," Tim said and oh yes, his voice was quite hoarse. "We have to do that again. Possibly with some anal action too."

Slade laughed and pulled Tim in for a kiss. His expression was just a tad too serious as he nuzzled Tim's lips.

"Mission accomplished," Slade said.

The smirk reassured Tim that yes, Slade had sent the message and hopefully Ra's hadn't intercepted it. Tim smirked right back, kissing Slade a good bit more languidly this time. He really wasn't quite urgent enough yet to deal with the soul-consuming kisses Slade had given him before. Slade seemed to realize that because the return kiss was tender, gentle and appreciative.

"Come to bed," Tim murmured.

"Will you be a good boy if I do?" Slade asked.

"Yes sir," Tim said and then laughed because Slade scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder again.

Ra's had better wait to contact Tim again. He was going to be very, very annoyed if Ra's interrupted their time together.

+++++

"I can't believe that you got them to change the headboard," Tim said as Slade secured his wrists to the new headboard with its highly secure O-rings.

"They're more than happy to do anything that I want," Slade chuckled. 

Tim looked at him curiously while cautiously testing the security of the cuffs and O-rings. There were quick releases that would let Slade get Tim out instantly if he needed as well as allowing Tim to get free if he decided that he'd changed his mind at any point. Slade didn't think that Tim would. He'd been the one to suggest being tied up and flogged before being fucked but liking a concept wasn't the same as enjoying the execution of that concept.

"Why?" Tim asked once he nodded that he was satisfied with the arrangement.

"Because I have the penthouse suite and they know who I am," Slade said. He smirked at Tim's scathing look. "That's the way the world works, little bird. Money and danger always talk."

"I'm well aware of that," Tim huffed. "I grew up in that world."

"It shows," Slade commented and then raised an eyebrow at the pained, horrified look Tim gave him. "What? You're no Jason Todd, Timothy Drake. Or Stephanie Brown. There's a big difference in behavior between someone raised at this level of society and someone raised at the lower levels of society. Simple fact."

From the look on Tim's face it was exactly the wrong thing to say. Slade could smell how his arousal had dropped, even without looking at Tim's cock which was wilting. Rather than let that little depressive train of thought continue, Slade draped himself over Tim's back. He pushed Tim's legs a little further apart so that he could stroke Tim's cock with one hand while nuzzling his neck.

"Might bug you," Slade murmured into Tim's ear, "but it turns me on. Always have liked the high society types, even back before I became who I am now. There's just something about getting all that purity dirty, you know?"

Tim shuddered underneath him, licking his lips and hardening significantly. That was what Slade had been going for. He nibbled on Tim's neck, biting on the hicky that he'd already put there and getting a very nice gasp followed by a breathy laugh. Slade grinned at the way Tim rocked against his cock invitingly. Yeah, he always had like Tim's type. Despite being as male as he could be, Tim reminded him of Adelaide quite a lot. She had that same sharp tongue and brilliant mind coupled with incredible martial arts skills, just like Tim.

"Somehow I suspect that you'd enjoy some of my other hobbies then," Tim said breathlessly.

"Do tell," Slade said as he transferred his mouth to the sharp edge of Tim's left shoulder blade.

"Nnngh," Tim grunted. "Oh hell, don't stop!"

"Hobbies?" Slade asked between sucking and biting on Tim's back.

"I have a…. Nnngh… very large collection of… oh fuck yes! Of costumes," Tim panted while rocking against Slade's cock and generally losing his mind. The way he was going they weren't going to get to the flogging before Tim came his brains out. "Female costumes."

That made Slade pause to clamp a hand around his cock so that he wasn't the one to make things end prematurely. The thought of Tim dressed in a silky red dress with perfect lipstick, pearls and heels were enough to nearly do him in right there. From the tenor of Tim's laugh he knew just how close he'd pushed Slade to the edge.

"We have highly complementary kinks," Slade observed.

"I've noticed," Tim laughed. "Delightfully complimentary. Corsets?"

"You're actively trying to ruin my control, aren't you?"

"Just returning the favor," Tim laughed. 

He looked over his shoulder with a coy, seductive look that dissolved into pure fury as the door to the bedroom opened. Slade was up and to the gun he'd put by the side of the bed before the door had opened more than a crack. Ra's didn't look at all impressed to find Slade's gun in his face.

"Ra's, if you're trying to ensure that I absolutely never work with you," Tim said while using the quick releases on the restraints, "you're doing a lovely job of it."

"Your timing sucks," Slade agreed.

"My apologies," Ra's said but his expression and his scent said the opposite. To Slade it looked like he was more than happy that he'd managed to cock-block them.

"Say what you want and then get out," Tim said while pulling on pants.

Slade really hated the pants but he supposed that Tim was right to do it. And it made sense for him to cover up a little bit, especially given how Ra's' eyes had locked onto Tim's cuffs and groin despite Slade's gun in his face. Even if it did make sense, Slade wasn't about to give Ra's the satisfaction of putting on clothes. Ra's would say his bit and then get the fuck out so that they could get back to the discussion of Tim cross-dressing for justice. And other more immediate needs like the flogging and then fucking him silly. And possibly arranging for some corsets to be brought up so that Slade could enjoy that little kink with Tim.

"You requested that I contact you face to face," Ra's said. He glared at Slade who kept the gun trained on Ra's' head. "Thus I am here."

"Obviously," Tim drawled. "And?"

"The situation with Council of Spiders is a great deal more serious than you appear to believe, Timothy," Ra's said. "It is a threat not only to my League but to the world at large."

"Irrelevant to me and my goals," Tim said so coldly that he seemed like an entirely different person from the boy who'd lost his mind under Slade's hands. "Get on with it Ra's. I was looking forward to our planned activities and you're interrupting. Again."

"I'm surprised that you would trust one such as Deathstroke, Timothy," Ra's said stiffly enough that Slade had to smirk at him. "His loyalty to you will last only as long as the money continues to flow."

Tim snorted, raising an eyebrow at Ra's. "I'm well aware of that. However at this point in time he is firmly on my side. I have no such faith that you would be on my side, no matter how hard you protest that our interests coincide."

The staring contest between Ra's and Tim was pretty damned intense. Slade was half-tempted to step back and let them have at it but he'd be failing in his job as Tim's body guard if he did. Instead, he stayed between the two of them. Even naked, Slade was confident that he could take Ra's if he had to. No matter what skills Ra's had, he wasn't as fast as Slade. He sure as hell wasn't as fast as bullet fired at close range.

Ra's appeared to understand that quite well. He moved slightly to his left as if to get a clear look at Tim. Slade moved with him. Tim moved the opposite direction, denying Ra's what he wanted. The sheer fury in Ra's scent didn't show on his face other than a slight tightening of his lips and eyes. From Tim's scent, he was perfectly aware that he was pissing Ra's off and quite happy about that.

"I would not have thought that you would indulge in such tastes," Ra's said in exactly the right way to make it clear that he though Slade was the next best thing to trailer park trash.

"Irrelevant," Tim snapped. "You were never on the list of options for such activities and never will be."

"Sore loser," Slade drawled and then smirked more widely at the way Ra's glared squarely at him.

He raised his chin in an invitation to bring it on. The gun wasn't heavy yet. It wouldn't begin to feel heavy for at least another half hour, given Slade's abilities. Slade kept it focused right on Ra's' head. There had to be assassins watching them right now though Slade couldn't hear or see them. Ra's wouldn't have come in here if he didn't have backup. Not that it mattered. At this range they had no hope of saving Ra's' life if Ra's did choose to start something after all.

Of course, Ra's was a cockroach. Even if Slade did blow his head off he'd still come back to life once his League dumped him in one of those damned pits of his. Tim's hand settled in the middle of Slade's back, gentle and reassuring.

"What do you want, Ra's?" Tim asked as he wrapped the other hand partway around Slade's waist and put his chin on Slade's shoulder. His grip wouldn't slow Slade down at all if he had to move but pressing so close would very likely protect Tim against any attack from Ra's' inevitably watching assassins. "Get on with it so we can get back to our… games."

This time Ra's' nostrils flared in obvious annoyance but he did nothing more than incline his head slightly as if conceding a point to Tim.

"The Council of Spiders isn't the true problem," Ra's said. "I believe that your… partner… has informed you of something called the Tournament of Assassins?"

"He mentioned it briefly," Tim said. "My thoughts weren't on that, honestly. I do have other issues that I'm working on, after all. If assassins choose to kill each other that's less work for me."

"You're wrong," Ra's said, raising his chin as his eyes took on that light that meant that he'd seen a weakness and fully intended to follow up on it. "The Tournament only begins with assassins killing each other. Very soon the targets will be civilians, politicians. Heroes. I would estimate that within a few weeks at most you and your family will find yourselves targeted by most of the assassins in the world."

"Including the League?" Slade asked.

"No," Ra's said. "I have been aware of the Tournament for a very long time. It occurred long before I was born, perhaps thousands of years before I existed. I have seen many generations of it and I know better than to participate. The few times that I did direct the League to participate were a disaster for us. You?"

"Got the invitation," Slade drawled, "declined. I don't kill randomly and I don't give a damn who thinks they're better than me. I know how good I am."

"Quite so," Ra's agreed even though his scent made his almost-pleasant smile into a lie. "Regardless, they will expand their targets very soon. Assassins in general are poor prey for these Tournaments. They do not expect to be targeted by other assassins, thus they leave themselves open. It proves little to kill another assassin. Well-protected politicians and the rich will be next. When heroes begin to defend them they will be targeted. It has happened many times before and will inevitably happen this time."

Tim's fingers curled against Slade's back, the nails digging in for a moment. It was obvious from his scent and the subvocal growl that Slade felt through his back that Tim didn't like that thought at all. The really annoying part was that Ra's was quite right. Inevitably, it would go down that way.

"What do you think I can do about that?" Tim asked harshly enough that Ra's smirked.

"You are trained by the Detective himself, Timothy," Ra's said. "You see patterns that no one else other than the Detective can, thus your search for proof of his trip through time. I will give you full access to my computer systems and files, everything that you need, so that you can find the ones behind the Tournament. They need to be stopped. Their actions cause entirely too much destruction."

Slade stiffened. It was a horrid idea. Accepting would mean that Tim was putting himself fully into Ra's' hands. He'd be under Ra's' thumb and that was pretty much exactly what Fox had wanted to prevent. Tim's hand slid along Slade's back reassuringly.

+++++

"For all your flattery," Tim said while caressing Slade's too-tense back, "you take me for a fool, Ra's."

Slade jerked minutely under Tim's hands. Ra's looked like Tim had just slapped him. As annoying as it was to have people continually underestimate him because of his youth, sometimes it was very convenient. This both was and wasn't one of those times. At least Tim knew why Ra's was being such a pest currently. He wanted to get Tim under control, presumably to keep him well away from Gotham for a significant amount of time. Unfortunately, it was also inconvenient because Tim couldn't get very much information out of Ra's as it stood.

"With all of your resources, everything that you have and all the previous experiences with the Tournament," Tim asked, arching one eyebrow at Ra's over Slade's shoulder, "you expect me to believe that you couldn't track the people behind it down? Ludicrous. For whatever reason you choose to let the Tournaments occur."

Ra's' expression went dark with annoyance and then lightened as he smirked at Tim as if he was pleased that Tim had been so discerning.

"Very good, Timothy," Ra's said. The smile was only slightly brittle as he eased to the right only to be blocked by Slade mimicking the movement. "The offer still stands."

"I refuse," Tim said perfectly calmly. "Yes, the Council of Spiders is a problem. I completely agree with you on that. They will need to be dealt with. Yes, the Tournament is an issue as well. I'll add that to the list of things that I need to deal with. But no, I will not work with you. You're not trustworthy. Every instance of your behavior that I'm aware of has shown that. From Bruce's interactions with you down to Damian and your recent efforts to coopt me, you have shown that you will work exclusively for your own benefit. I may be walking the dark side of the line currently but I will not fall to your level."

Slade chuckled as Ra's sneered at Tim. The tension in Slade's back eased dramatically. His arm still hadn't wavered, though by this point Tim's arm would have been shaking like a leaf in a storm from holding it out like that for so long. The sheer endurance that it showed made Tim rather hopeful that they could resurrect their plans for the evening.

On the other hand, Ra's looked as though he was actively contemplating killing both of them as messily as possible, throwing them into the pit to resurrect them and then killing them again. He glared at Tim, nostrils flaring and lips tight, for a long moment before nodding once.

"I see," Ra's said. "Pity. I had hoped that you would be reasonable about this."

"I'm a Bat," Tim said wryly. "When are we ever reasonable about these things?"

That startled both Ra's and Slade into a laugh. Ra's bowed slightly to concede the point. He turned to the bedroom door, pausing with it half-open so that he could look over his shoulder at Tim and Slade.

"You should be careful," Ra's warned. "Things may go against you sooner rather than later."

"You should be careful as well, Ra's," Tim replied. "If you're not, I may decide to add you to the list of organizations and people that need to be dealt with once I get Bruce back to the current day."

He didn't get a response other than Ra's sniffing and throwing a haughty look at him. Tim hadn't really expected it. Ra's slipped out of their suite, taking several ninjas with him. Slade watched them go and then verified that the security system was back up and running. To Tim's private amusement Slade also went through every closet, checked the walls, ceiling and floors, closed every single curtain in the place and then growled as though it wasn't enough.

"He's not likely to do anything right this moment," Tim commented.

"Granted," Slade growled, "but he will try something and it will be soon. You shouldn't have warned him that way."

Tim shrugged. "He already knew that I'd be coming after him eventually. I've made those comments before you showed up. This just makes it formal. Besides, you're assuming that I wasn't already planning on dealing with the League."

Slade laughed, obviously pleased by the thought. He sauntered over to pull Tim into his arms. Tim grinned up at him, wrapping his arms around Slade's neck. The gun was still in Slade's left hand but Tim really didn't mind that too much. Once they made it back to the bed it would go away.

"I believe we were planning something," Tim said.

"Hmmm, I believe we were discussing dressing you in a corset and a red silk dress," Slade purred.

"I rather like blue, myself," Tim laughed. "I have a stunning dress back home that you'd probably quite like. Matching silk corset, garters, blue silk stockings. I even have matching shoes and jewelry for it. It's one of my favorite outfits."

The look in Slade's eyes plus the suddenly revived press of his erection against Tim's hip told Tim that he'd hit the mark squarely on that one. Slade pushed Tim up against the doorjamb to kiss him until they were both panting, rocking against each other and more than ready to return to bed. When he let Tim's lips go Slade raised one eyebrow.

"Where are we going next?" Slade asked.

"First to the Middle East," Tim said, "and then home. Once we go to a particular cave that was discovered in the Middle East I'll have the last bit of data I need to convince the others."

"And tonight?" Slade asked. He grinned and thrust against Tim's hip again.

"Oh yes," Tim sighed. "We definitely need to go back to bed and finish what we started. No more interruptions."

Tim laughed as Slade scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder. The gun ended up beside the bed again and Tim found himself back on his knees with his hands secured to the headboard. Even if Ra's was getting ready to attack them, Tim found he didn't care. It was nice to have Slade there, watching over him and making him forget all the problems that he had to deal with.

"Brace yourself," Slade said. "I'm not going to stop until I decide you're done."

"Nothing that will keep me from fighting," Tim reminded him.

"Not with Ra's around," Slade agreed. "Let's see how much you can take."

The first blow made Tim gasp and moan. Yes, he was very happy indeed that Slade was there. This was just what he needed.

+++++

"Huh, so this is where he started tripping through time," Slade said.

"I believe so," Tim replied.

The cave wasn't anything special. Even the archeologists who'd dug it out had been done with it pretty quickly. They'd left months ago, carefully cleaning away all their tools and tents, though Slade could still detect faint hints of their scents in the cave. Animals had moved back in once the humans were gone but they'd hidden when Slade and Tim entered.

Slade sort of wondered how Tim had heard about this. From what he'd seen when he checked the internet it wasn't on any discussion boards. There was one lonely university paper and two comments about the similarity of the cave painting on the wall to Batman's insignia but that was it. Granted, Slade hadn't checked all that carefully when he'd gotten online last time. He'd just been making sure that Ra's hadn't blocked his message to Fox and that Fox had sent a reply.

The reply was so coded that Slade wasn't sure what it meant, not that he'd been completely certain what Tim's message to Fox meant either. 'Current activities' could be related to Tim's family or the Joker for all Slade knew. Hush was straightforward enough. Slade was quite aware that he was playing Bruce Wayne while Bruce was gone. The only thing that Slade was sure of was that the 'real reason' for his being there was to keep Tim safe from Ra's and the Council of Spiders.

Still, Fox's reply had been a series of numbers, probably money figures, a cryptic statement that Hush was associating with Vale, certainly Vicky, and a warning that Tim needed to come home as soon as possible.

They'd flown to the Middle East and taken a Land Rover out into the desert instead.

Tim took pictures of the cave painting and then stood staring at it for a good twenty minutes. It didn't hurt anything so Slade let him. After everything the kid had gone through to get to this point Slade thought that he had the right to take a little while to celebrate his discovery. They were both in costume, mostly because it was evening and the desert was getting cold.

"You done yet?" Slade asked when Tim's staring had extended to a full half hour.

"Hmm?"

The response was so absent minded and yet so full of joy that Slade laughed under his breath. He walked over and wrapped an arm around Tim's neck, gently tugging him back against Slade's chest. Tim started and then leaned into Slade's body as if he'd forgotten that Slade had been there all along and was relieved to have someone to share the moment with.

"Done?" Slade asked.

"Yes, I suppose I am," Tim admitted. "Just… none of them believed me. They all think that I'm crazy, you know. This… It's the last piece of the puzzle that I need to convince them and save Bruce."

Slade smiled. "Need to get going. I don't want to linger any longer than we have to."

"Too close to Ra's." Tim nodded his agreement. He stared at the cave painting for a moment longer before turning in Slade's arms. Once he looked up at Slade his expression was all business. "Let's go."

Tim trailed after Slade out to the entrance of the cave. Slade scanned the area before stepping outside. He could hear someone breathing in the area and waved at Tim to be careful. He could smell the shift in Tim's alertness. His scent became sharper as the adrenaline began to flow through his body. There was a breeze blowing in from the desert. It was dry and empty of human or inhuman scents. That implied that whoever was watching them was in the hills around them, behind the car or somehow so thoroughly de-scented that Slade couldn't detect him.

Slade pointed up at the hillside. Tim whirled, staff at the ready. It was seriously gratifying not to have any questions asked. After a moment Tim growled. Apparently he'd detected that someone was out there too but he obviously couldn't determine where the other person was.

"Car?" Tim murmured so quietly that a normal man wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Yeah," Slade replied just barely loud enough for Tim to pick it up.

They slowly moved towards the car, Slade scanning for Ra's' assassin or whoever it was as well as checking the ground for signs of land mines having been installed while they were inside. There weren't any but just before they reached the side of their Land Rover the sand in front of them erupted into the air.

"Down!" Slade shouted.

Tim went down, swinging his staff in a move that should have broken the kneecaps of their opponent. Unfortunately the other assassin leaped over the staff and struck out at them with twin gurkas. Slade dodged. Tim blocked and danced away. Unfortunately he danced away from Slade, which made Slade curse under his breath.

The assassin leaped after Slade, proving that he had to be part of the Council of Spiders out to eliminate a fellow assassin. He was faster than a normal human but not as fast or as strong as Slade. His gurkas were heavier than Slade's blades but with about the same length. He was outclassed and Slade knew it. Unfortunately the grinning assassin didn't seem to realize it so he charged at Slade, gurkas flying.

Tim circled behind the assassin, staff at the ready to help. He saw an opportunity and darted in to attack. Slade bellowed and dove to block the assassin's gurka as he saw Tim, twisted and tried to drive his blade into Tim's gut.

"No!" Slade bellowed.

The sword caught Tim in the side but Tim's staff crushed the assassin's knee at the same time. Slade snarled and used his full speed and strength on the assassin, chopping off his arm and his head in two swift movements. The idiot's body fell to the ground, twitching a little like a dying bug. Slade snapped the worst of the blood off his blade and sheathed it.

"Ow," Tim commented as if it was absolutely nothing to be concerned about despite the blood pouring down his side.

"Idiot!" Slade snarled at him while carefully pulling Tim's hand away from the wound and then pressing it firmly back in place. "I'm the bodyguard. He was attacking me. You should have let me handle it."

"They use venom, many of them," Tim complained. "I didn't want to risk you getting hit with some sort of venom."

"I'm immune to almost all venoms and poisons," Slade snapped. "Let me take the front, kid."

He scooped Tim up and carried him to the Land Rover, grumbling under his breath about idiot heroes who didn't understand the concept of letting the bodyguard take care of the dangerous things. Tim started out frowning but by the time he was sitting in the passenger seat with Slade bandaging his side, he looked and smelled honestly amused.

"Maybe I just didn't want to see him hurt your pretty face," Tim commented.

Slade glared at him. "I'm not the one with the pretty face, kid."

"Mmm, I would disagree with that," Tim said, smirking as he ran his fingers over Slade's cheek. His expression went rueful and he grabbed some of the gauze to clean the blood that transferred from his fingers to Slade's face. "Sorry."

"Kid," Slade started to say and then stopped. "Tim."

Tim jerked and stared at him, abruptly not the fierce hero but instead the incredibly sexy sub who had shared himself with Slade.

"I'm supposed to protect you," Slade said much more gently because this was the side of Tim he wanted to protect. "In a regular fight, back in Gotham, more power to you. But out here, with assassins coming after us, let me take the front. I'm a lot less fragile than you are and I heal a hell of a lot faster."

"Noted," Tim said, his smile wry and touched at the same time. "I've gotten used to not having backup. Honestly, I've gotten very used to working alone. It's… strange to have a partner to work with again."

That hurt. Slade knew how Tim had been trained. He'd been Batman's partner and now he was wandering around the world with absolutely no one he could rely on. No wonder the kid smelled of grief and loss most of the time. Neither of them talked as Slade made quick work of field dressing Tim's wound. They needed to get out of here and Slade had no intention of bringing up just how out of character it was for Tim to be doing all of this. It was obvious that he'd gotten entirely too much of that from his so-called family.

They both frowned as a second Land Rover drove up, throwing up dust and highlighting their location. When Z stepped out it was to find a gun pointed at his head. Z frowned, standing perfectly still even as Prudence slid out of her seat to sneer at the dead assassin.

"We received information that you were being targeted," Z said after a moment's silence.

"I'm sure you did," Tim said in that same ice-cold voice that was more suited to an assassin than a hero. "We dealt with it."

"So I see," Z replied.

His eyes followed the trail of blood to the Land Rover, disapproval clear in his scent even though it didn't show on his face. Slade took the safety off and set his finger on the trigger. Z went even more still while Prudence jerked, her pulse abruptly obvious at her temple and throat.

"Back the fuck off," Slade ordered. "I'm not in the mood for Ra's' games so get the fuck out of here before I decide to kill you the way I killed them."

To Slade's surprise, Z's eyes slid to Tim who snorted and pulled the door shut, blocking them all out. Sweat beaded on Z's forehead while Prudence started whispering curses under her breath. Z very carefully bowed, gesturing with one hand for Prudence to get back in their vehicle. She did, swallowing convulsively as the movement made Slade glare at her. Once she was back inside Z bowed once more and carefully entered the driver's seat.

They drove off a good bit more quickly than they'd come in, which meant that they had to be bouncing around in their vehicle like ping pong balls. Slade snorted and holstered his gun before grabbing the first aid kit and getting in the driver's side. Tim took the kit, tucking it at his feet. He was already strapped in, even though the seat belt was resting on his wound.

"You going to make it?" Slade asked Tim.

"I'll be fine," Tim said. He snorted and smiled wryly at Slade's fierce look. "I didn't say I'd be happy about it but I will survive, Slade. Let's get back to the hotel and then out of this part of the world. I can rest on the plane."

Slade nodded. The drive back to their cheap, crappy hotel took longer than he wanted but not as long as it should have. Every jerk and bump made Tim wince. Half a mile into the trip his hand was clamped over his side and his face had gone white. The night was dark enough when they got back that Slade didn't bother with civvies. He just picked Tim up, cape and all, and carried him into the cheap hotel that held their still-packed bags.

"We should get to the airport," Tim commented entirely too mildly when Slade set him on the bed.

"Not in uniform and not without a proper look at that wound," Slade growled.

Tim sighed as he disarmed his suit but he didn't complain. Getting him out of the thing was an exercise in frustration. The wound was bad enough that Slade could smell fresh trickles of blood and Tim's pain every time they moved his upper body. It wasn't as deep as Slade had thought. The assassin had been aiming to gut Tim, or at least to impale him, but his shot had gone wide when Tim crushed his knee.

Still it was deep enough that Slade had to stitch it shut. Neither of them suggested a hospital, not given where they were and who would very likely control the doctors. It would have to wait for proper full treatment when they got back to Gotham.

"Should be giving you blood and antibiotics," Slade muttered as he wrapped a proper bandage around Tim's side.

"It's only a twenty hour flight to Gotham from here," Tim said entirely too reasonably for the cold sweat covering his body. "I won't die of an infection before then."

"You can't save him if you let yourself get killed," Slade murmured.

"I know."

The grief and loss spiked in Tim's scent. Slade could literally see Tim thinking about his lost family, lost friends, about the living friends who'd turned their backs on him. Rather than let that now-familiar train of thought continue, Slade brushed a thumb over Tim's lips. He was pretty sure that his worry showed on his face but seeing the people he cared about hurt had always destroyed his efforts to keep his cool.

"Slade?" Tim asked. His hand came up and rested against Slade's cheek.

"Be more careful," Slade ordered.

"Is that an order?" Tim asked, this time with a little laughter and a lot of lust in his expression.

"It's a plea," Slade said.

He bent and pressed a firm kiss against Tim's lips. It wasn't like their normal soul-devouring kisses. This one was gentle and as hesitant as Slade ever got. Tim needed the gentleness right now. Hell, Slade needed it.

Somehow in the last couple of days Tim had wormed his way into Slade's heart. It hadn't happened for a very long time but Tim had slipped past every defense that Slade had. Hell, Slade sort of thought that he'd been doomed during that very first discussion when Tim hadn't been upset about Slade killing the other assassin.

Tim's kiss was tender and shy, as if he wasn't sure what to make of this side of Slade's personality. The lust was still there, tempered by pain and mild confusion. His hands came up to rest on Slade's shoulders, pushing so tentatively that Slade almost wasn't sure that it was a request for him to pull back. When Slade did pull back Tim's expression had gone serious and intent.

"I'm not going to break," Tim said.

"Didn't think that you were," Slade replied with a wry smile of his own. "Just hate seeing my partners wounded when it's my job to keep them safe."

That made Tim laugh and the grief and loss faded back to its normal background intensity. Slade smiled, helping Tim dress before getting cleaned up and switching into civvies. The trip to the airport was silent again. They didn't bother cleaning up the blood and the rental agency didn't ask once they turned the car in.

"You flew the Wayne jet?" Tim asked once they were walking across the tarmac.

"Yup," Slade said. "Fox was determined to get you back as quick as he could."

"Huh."

He didn't say anything further, which Slade found a little odd. Once they were on the plane, with the seriously twitchy Wayne Industries pilot who clearly wished he was anywhere else, Tim settled into one of the chairs and closed his eyes. Slade did an obsessively thorough walk through of the plane, following the pilot and double-checking everything he did. There didn't appear to be any bombs but Slade was certain that Ra's had already bugged the plane.

They wouldn't be able to talk openly on the flight.

Slade waited until they were in the air to drag Tim to his feet. The bed in the back of the plane wasn't terribly large but it was relatively comfortable. Tim frowned and then shrugged when Slade made him strip down. He followed suit, curling himself around Tim as if he wanted to keep him safe from everything in the world. Of course, he actually did and the depth of the emotion bothered Slade but there was no reason to lay that on Tim right now.

"Should get some sleep," Slade murmured against Tim's neck.

"I know," Tim sighed while shifting around to get comfortable. "It's hard to sleep on a plane."

Once Tim was comfortable Slade pulled the covers up over both of them. He set his hand on Tim's hip and started tapping a message in Morse code. It only took one word before Tim realized what he was doing. His startled stare and then appreciative grin made Slade chuckle and gently kiss him.

'Ra's has to have bugged the plane,' Slade tapped against Tim's hip.

'I know,' Tim replied with equally skillful Morse code. 'Good way to communicate privately.'

'What is Ra's really up to?' Slade asked.

Tim sighed, setting his head on Slade's shoulder. The tapping of his fingers as he answered was a good bit sharper, as if he really wanted to be pounding on someone at the moment. Slade let him. He felt the same way about Ra's' machinations. He had to have warned that Council of Spiders assassin that they'd be at the cave. There was no other way that he'd have found them.

'He's trying to take over Bruce's fortune,' Tim explained. 'I thought that he might be making moves before I left but Hush hadn't begun to actually give him away until later. Dick apparently hasn't realized it yet. Fox wants me back because I'm Bruce's legal heir, not Dick or Damian.'

Slade nodded, making the movement into an opportunity to nuzzle Tim's hair. It made Tim shiver and rock against Slade for a moment though he didn't feel hard to Slade.

'Fox is doing his best to block Hush and Ra's?' Slade asked.

'That's what his message meant, yes,' Tim replied. 'But Hush is spending Bruce's money like water. I need to cut him off before he literally gives the entire fortune away.'

'Got plans on how to do that?' Slade asked even though he was sure Tim had at least six or seven ways to do it.

'Of course,' Tim said. 'I'm not sure I'll survive them but yes.'

'You'll survive,' Slade said, the strength of his taps turning the words into a growl that matched the low one he made. 'I'll make sure of that. Might be other ways of dealing with Ra's besides a direct confrontation, you know.'

'I'm willing to listen to options,' Tim replied.

His hand stroked Slade's hip, drifted over his stomach and then tucked between the two of them. Slade could smell how tired and sore Tim was. He chuckled and kissed the top of Tim's head. There was time. They had hours left on their flight and many ways that they could communicate if they needed to.

'Sleep first,' Slade said. 'We'll talk after you wake up.'

Tim nodded and sighed. He fell asleep almost instantly, leaving Slade to watch and think. Finding ways to stop Ra's would be easy enough. Slade spent the time before he dozed off wondering exactly when he'd fallen for Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne.

+++++

"What is that assassin doing here?" Damian hissed when Tim walked into the manor with Slade on his heels.

"Keeping me from dying at Lucius Fox's request," Tim snapped at him. "Who are you to complain about assassins, anyway?"

It still stung seeing Damian in the manor. Tim had expected that. Having Robin taken away from him so that Damian could take his place was still a huge hole in his heart but it didn't hurt as much as he would have expected. Damian's sense of entitlement was only to be expected after having grown up under Ra's al Ghul's thumb. That didn't mean that Tim liked it or was going to put up with it, especially when so much was going on.

"Talia's kid?" Slade asked. He quite deliberately stepped between Tim and Damian, earning a growl from Damian that Slade obviously thought was cute.

"And Bruce's, yes," Tim said.

He smiled as Alfred appeared at the top of the stairs. Alfred's expression lightened when he saw Tim and then went quite dark when he saw Slade standing beside him. If Tim had thought that Alfred's carriage was always straight and tall he hadn't realized just how relaxed Alfred was around the family. As he came down the stairs, Alfred's shoulders went rigid and his expression so cold that Tim winced for Slade's sake.

"Master Timothy, it is good to see that you have returned," Alfred said. "Is this… person… your guest?"

"Bodyguard, guest and currently also my lover," Tim said because Alfred would figure it out soon enough. Getting it open in the open was better than waiting for the explosion that would occur if he hid it. "It's a long story. I'll explain later. Is Dick home? I have to talk to him."

"He is in the library currently, Master Timothy," Alfred said and this time the disapproval was aimed squarely at Tim. "May I say that I hope you know what you're doing?"

"Thank you, Alfred, I do." 

Tim sighed and patted Alfred's shoulder as he passed. Slade had the majority of the artifacts that Tim had gathered up but Tim still had a couple. Their bags were sitting by the front door. He wasn't sure where Slade's things would end up but hopefully he wouldn't be banished to the nether reaches of the Manor.

The library was quiet as always, though Dick was humming a pop tune as he read something. He'd draped himself over one of the big leather arm chairs with one leg dangling over the arm and his head resting on the other arm. When Tim and Slade came in with Damian on their heels, Dick looked up and then rolled to his feet so fast that it was nearly instantaneous teleportation.

"Tim?" Dick asked, eyeing Slade and his confident smirk as if he was expecting to get attacked any second.

"He's my bodyguard, Dick," Tim explained as he set his box of artifacts on the big table in the center of the library. "And more."

"Calm down," Slade drawled. "If I wanted to cause trouble I wouldn't come in the front door."

"Yes, you would," Dick countered, a puzzled expression on his face as he looked back and forth between Tim and Slade. "You've done it before."

"Well, yeah, that's true," Slade chuckled. "Still not here to cause trouble. This time."

Tim laid his findings out and then waved for Slade to stay with them as he headed upstairs and found the painting of Mordecai Wayne. Even though the trip took less than a minute and a half, by the time he got back to the library it looked as though war was about to break out. Dick winced at Tim's glare. Damian glared right back, his knives in his hands.

"Lay off my lover, Dick," Tim growled.

"Lover?" Dick gasped. He went beet red, then white as a sheet and then the sort of red that meant that his temper was getting the better of him.

"Yes, lover," Tim repeated. "If you didn't want me to think he was sexy you shouldn't have told me about him in such vivid detail. I am still waiting for that tongue trick under my cock though."

Slade spluttered and then laughed long and hard while Dick's anger-blush turned into the sort of embarrassed blush that usually made Tim bolt and go hide somewhere for a few days. It didn't have that effect on Dick. All he did was look away from Tim and Slade while rubbing the back of his neck. Damian looked as though he wanted to throw up, which was probably the first age appropriate reaction Tim had seen out of him. Tim blushed as Alfred's stern harrumph sounded from the door.

"Perhaps you can explain what your collection signifies while I put yours and Mr. Wilson's bags away, Master Timothy?" Alfred said. His tone could have put out forest fires from the sheer chill in it.

"His things go in my rooms," Tim told Alfred because he was already in for it. He might as well go all the way. "And you want to stay for this, Alfred. Bruce isn't dead."

"Tim…" Dick said, that same heartsick expression twisting his face.

"He's not," Slade said in that dead certain tone of voice that would make anyone do anything, if only out of sheer self-preservation.

"You believe him?" Dick asked.

When Slade nodded and gestured for Tim to come over and explain what he'd found, Dick stared at both of them as if he didn't recognize either of them. Alfred's stiffness went from profound disapproval to wary curiosity. Tim was always amazed at how much Alfred conveyed without speaking a single word. Damian, on the other hand, simply pulled up a chair and knelt on it so that he'd have a good view of what Tim presented.

"I figured it out when you replaced me as Robin," Tim said.

"Tim…"

He glared at Dick who looked back at him with that same 'it can't be true look'. Tim shook his head and set Mordecai Wayne's picture in front of Dick. It took tapping on it to get Dick to actually look at it. Alfred was staring at it as if he was truly seeing it for the first time. Once Dick looked he did a double-take.

"I was angry and trashed the hallway," Tim explained. "One of the things I did was knock this painting off the wall and break the frame. It took a moment for me to really see it. If you try and tell me that it's a chance resemblance I'll call you a liar to your face. This is Bruce."

"It… is," Dick whispered, running his fingers over the painting.

"I never noticed that," Alfred agreed in the most emotional voice that Tim had ever heard from him.

Slade ran his hand over Tim's back. The reassurance was entirely welcome on Tim's part since he felt as though his stomach was a half second away from expelling everything he'd eaten over the last day. Dick, Alfred and Damian all glared at Slade, though.

"I went away and started doing some research," Tim continued without addressing the glares. He did lean back into Slade's hand. "I found many instances of things that had to be related to Bruce throughout the archeological record."

"So that's why you've been traveling all over the world?" Dick asked. "Finding proof?"

"Exactly," Tim said. "I needed proof so that you'd stop treating me as though I'd gone insane."

That made everyone, including Damian and Slade, wince. Tim plowed ahead with his carefully planned explanation of what he'd found throughout history and his speculations about the true effect of Darkseid's beams on Bruce. He'd only just finished the first round of explanations when Clark zoomed in, dressed as Superman. Clark stared at Tim with enough awe that Slade didn't do more than jerk a hand towards his gun before relaxing again.

"I hadn't wanted to believe that it was Bruce but…" Clark said, staring at all the evidence that Tim had gathered, "you're sure? Really sure that it's him traveling through time?"

"I've seen a bunch of stuff besides this," Slade said. He smirked at the surprised looks he got from Dick and Alfred. "Always figured that Bruce saw them during his travels around the world and was inspired by them but it makes more sense for them to be Bruce leaving them as he traveled through time. It's pretty close to a chicken and the egg situation, in my opinion."

"This…" Clark vibrated so badly that he reminded Tim of Bart when he was excited about something. 

He looked at the evidence as if memorizing it and then beamed at Tim. The hug came out of nowhere, quite literally. One moment Clark was on the opposite side of the room and then he was there, hugging Tim and lifting him off his feet. Slade squawked at the same time that Tim did but the hug was actually quite gentle.

"Down please," Tim squeaked after a moment.

"I'm going to go put a team together to rescue him!" Clark said. He looked at the evidence again, floating and grinning with excitement.

"Do," Tim said. "I have to take care of several problems here. If you need my data please ask. I'd be glad to explain everything in whatever detail is needed."

"You don't want to go along?" Clark asked.

Tim smiled, entirely too wryly he knew but that couldn't be helped. Between Slade's ferocious glower and his side's renewed ache there was no way that he was going to go traipsing around time trying to save Bruce. He shook his head no and patted Clark's elbow.

"No, I really do have other things that have to be dealt with here," Tim said. "Ra's is causing trouble and if we don't stop him Bruce won't have a home to come back to."

Clark settled to the ground again, going serious as he stared at Tim. Rather than explain that set of problems to him, Tim smiled and waved that Clark should go ahead and go. It really wasn't something that Clark could help with. This was a family affair. They'd deal with it together and Clark could focus on bringing Bruce back to them.

"We'll handle it," Tim said. "I've got a very good idea of what Ra's is up to and plans on how to counter him. Go save Bruce. That's the really important thing. If you need to, do come back with your team. I'd be glad to go over all of this in whatever level of detail you need."

"I will," Clark promised before zooming away.

It would have been nice to be included in the team to save Bruce but Tim truly did think that he was needed in Gotham far more than on the time traveling trip. Maybe he could help after Ra's was dealt with but for now he needed to focus on home. Saving Bruce's fortune and business from Ra's was the most important thing he could do at the moment. Besides, with his wound he'd only hold them back on the trip through time.

Dick studied Tim as if he was only just seeing Tim clearly. From the expression on his face he wasn't quite sure what to make of the changes over the last few months. Tim shrugged and moved the evidence aside while Slade grabbed one of the chairs and pushed it at Tim while glaring.

"Sit," Slade growled.

"I know, I know," Tim sighed.

"What's wrong?" Dick asked.

"Oh, I took a gurka to the side yesterday," Tim complained as he sat down. "I'm fine but Slade worries."

"You very nearly got gutted," Slade corrected. "You need to have someone properly trained look at your side and to get antibiotics and possibly a pint of blood."

"Once they understand what's going on I'll head down to the cave and Alfred can check it out," Tim promised. "We need to get working on the Ra's situation."

Tim rolled his eyes when both Dick and Alfred looked as though they wanted to head downstairs right now. Damian looked horrified that Tim had mentioned the Cave. Slade just frowned at him with that concerned and a little unhappy about being so concerned expression that Tim was trying not to acknowledge. Admitting that it was there would mean admitting that something more seemed to be building between them and Tim couldn't bear the thought of how much pain he'd feel when Slade left. This alliance was a temporary thing. It had always been temporary.

"Stop that," Tim huffed. "I'm fine, really."

"What is Grandfather doing?" Damian asked in a tone that was almost cordial.

It took almost two hours for Tim to lay out everything that he thought Ra's was up to. The vast majority of it was obvious things but the implications of those obvious actions were what were scary. Dick already knew that Hush had gone on a charity binge. Lucius had told him. The falling stock prices for WI was something that Alfred had been aware of but had discounted given the current market. When Tim tied it back into advances made by companies that Tim was certain that Ra's controlled through intermediaries it became much more significant.

Damian had a great deal to offer once they got him talking. He knew of a dozen little plots and a couple large ones that had been either in the planning stages or put into action, all aimed at Gotham and Bruce's fortune. The entire Tournament issue seemed to go over Dick's head but Damian frowned so ferociously that he clearly understood it very well.

"I don't understand why he'd do that," Dick complained.

"Father is no longer here," Damian snapped. "He is testing Father's heirs, as well as testing me to see if I will remain firm in my decision to remain here. Also, the League does take a vast amount of money to run. They make a great deal but more money is never amiss."

"Well, he doesn't get Bruce's money," Tim said.

"Agreed," Damian replied. "Still it is a pity. Grandfather and Mother had hoped that I would be old enough to participate in the Tournament when it happened again."

"Seriously?" Slade asked with enough horror that Tim didn't feel compelled to rant about Damian's upbringing and why it had made him unsuitable to be Robin.

Damian nodded. If anything, he looked wistful about missing participating in the Tournament. Tim couldn't understand that and clearly neither could Dick. He looked as though he wanted to hug the stuffing out of Damian, a fact that Damian was quite clearly aware of as he edged away from Dick towards Alfred.

"Quite," Damian said. "Grandfather has always encouraged the Tournaments though he disagrees with the goals of those to run it. The assassins who survive generally make strong members of the League and those who die during the Tournament are quite obviously too weak to be members."

"Of course he knows their goals," Tim sighed.

"The Tournament is specifically designed to kill off assassins," Damian explained so calmly that he might as well have been talking about weeding a garden and trimming back the shrubs that had grown too large for their location. "Those who instigate and run it do so because they believe that having too many assassins in the world is a danger to the rest of humanity."

Tim slouched back into his chair as Slade questioned Damian on everything he knew about the Tournament. It wasn't much more than what they already knew but the added data made Tim even more determined to find whoever ran it and stop them. While he agreed that assassins were a threat, setting them against each other so that they would kill each other off wasn't the proper way to handle the problem. He gently rubbed his fingers over the bandage on his side, wondering privately how long it would be before he'd be able to fight without pain. Half an hour later Slade looked at Tim so sharply that he sat up straight again.

"Treatment, now," Slade growled.

"I'm fine," Tim protested. "Just tired."

"I can smell the blood, Tim," Slade said. "Fox paid me to keep you safe and healthy. We're getting that wound properly treated and you're resting."

"Lucius paid him?" Dick asked, staring at Tim and then at Slade.

"Very nice fee, actually," Slade said with his distinctive smirk. "I normally don't take jobs like this but you did ask me to take care of him too. Been doing my best on that front."

"Personally, I'm rather enjoying your style of taking care of me," Tim said with a smirk of his own. "It's… entertaining how accurate some of Dick's stories have been."

Dick went flamingly red as he spluttered something about getting Tim's side treated. Between Slade's fierce look, Alfred's little sigh of dismay and Dick's grip on his wrist, Tim didn't see the point of arguing. His side really did need better treatment and Alfred was right there.

Still, he would have preferred to head up to bed and sleep for a couple of hours. Having finally gotten them to believe that Bruce was alive, Tim found that his energy levels had bottomed out. That probably had a lot to do with low blood volume and injury-related anemia but more sleep would have been better than being poked at.

Slade followed them, his stance making it quite clear that he didn't give a damn about the supposed security of the cave. It made Damian hiss like a cat when Slade joined them in the elevator. Tim smiled and pulled his wrist free from Dick's grip so that he could lean against Slade instead.

"You're actually together," Dick commented.

"For the moment," Tim said. "Deal with it. I'm going to enjoy myself while it lasts. Lord knows relationships between heroes and villains never last."

"Agreed," Slade said. "Besides, pretty soon he won't need me to guard him anymore."

"You still should not be allowed access to the cave," Damian grumbled.

"Kid," Slade snorted, "you act like I've never been there before."

Dick went so red that everyone, Tim included, stared at him. Damian's very vocal outrage at the sheer thought made Dick start spluttering explanations while Alfred tutted at him. It was kind of amusing watching Dick respond to Slade. According to Dick their relationship had never been serious but Tim had to wonder now if maybe there had been more to it than Dick had admitted at the time.

+++++

"Tim, I know he's sexy and good in bed but he's…"

Dick's voice trailed off as he gestured aimlessly or perhaps not so aimlessly as most of those gestures could be used as killing strikes. Tim glared at Dick. The past couple of hours had been entirely too annoying for words. Between getting his wound poked at by Alfred and Damian's prissiness over Slade being in the cave, there had been Dick looking like someone had just stabbed him in the gut.

"Violent, lethal and a highly dangerous to everyone around him," Tim finished for Dick.

"Yes!" Dick said.

"I know," Tim said. "I knew that when I started this, Dick. I don't have a problem with it. You didn't seem to have a problem with it when you were, what? Dating him? Or was it just sex?"

It should have been an unfair question. Normally Tim would never have asked Dick something like that. Asking about Dick's private life had never been necessary before due to Dick's tendency of oversharing and going into excessive levels of detail that made Tim blush furiously. He'd honestly taken Dick's stories of Slade (and Roy and Kory and Donna and, and, and…) at face value, accepting that what Dick said was what he'd felt and wanted.

But Dick's reactions to Slade made him think that there may have been much more to his on and off relationship with Slade than Dick had said. He'd looked almost hurt by Slade's concern for and caring gestures towards Tim. That could have something to do with worrying about Tim but that look only happened when Dick was watching Slade. Tim got the worried, 'I hope you know what you're doing' looks.

Dick sighed. "It's not that. We never really dated, Tim. Sure, we arranged to be in the same area from time to time but it was… sex and fighting and working towards mutual goals. He never…"

"He never acted the same way towards you that he does towards me," Tim said, completing Dick's sentence for him again.

"No, he didn't!" Dick said as if that was hugely significant. "Yes, he was upset when I was hurt but there wasn't the same… I don't know. He actually seemed worried about you, Tim. Slade, Slade's a great guy when he's not killing people but he doesn't take good care of the people close to him."

"Dick, he's being paid to take care of me right now," Tim said, sighing and shaking his head at Dick's expression. "That's his job. Yes, he's lethal. I know that. Yes, he's dangerous. That's fine. But the fact of the matter is that he's also very good to me currently and we both know that this is a limited duration arrangement. Besides, the sex is good. You were quite right about that."

The attempt at reassurance didn't work. Dick spluttered and waved his hands again, this time with enough agitation that Tim eased a step away from him. Fortunately for Tim, Alfred had gone upstairs with Damian after approving the stitches that Slade had done. His side was healing pretty well and antibiotics were always a good idea. Which, of course, left Tim trapped on a gurney in the cave as Dick tried and failed to rant at him about choosing to sleep with the enemy.

It was more than a little annoying. Tim had said many of the same things when Dick had gotten involved with Slade. He hadn't been listened to but now Dick expected him to listen now that it was his turn. What made it especially annoying was that Slade was taking better care of Tim than his family had, especially since Bruce disappeared.

"Dick, stop it," Tim finally snapped. Just because he was trapped didn't mean that he had to put up with this. "You pushed me away. You took Robin away from me even though Bruce promised that I'd always be able to be Robin. You took it away even though that was quite literally the only thing I had in my life anymore."

"Damian…" Dick's voice trailed off when Tim glared at him.

"Damian is a completely separate issue," Tim huffed. "I would have reacted as poorly if you'd given Robin to someone else entirely. On top of that, you treated me like I was insane instead of listening to me. I should have had your support and encouragement on this, Dick. You can claim all you want that I'm your little brother but you haven't been showing it very well lately. It feels as though I'm your little brother only when I do what you expect and want."

Dick looked stricken. Tim glared at him. He was certain that Dick could justify every single thing he'd done. Honestly, Tim could do it if he wanted to play devil's advocate, but he didn't. The last year and a half had been the most difficult and intense of his entire life. When he really needed his family, his real family, they'd let him down. It was no wonder that Tim found Slade's uncomplicated support and attention highly welcome.

He wasn't about to admit that he would be happy if Slade stuck around for the rest of his life. Tim already knew that was impossible.

"Let me check that IV, Master Timothy," Alfred said as he entered the infirmary area of the cave. "I believe you should be done by now."

"I hope so, Alfred," Tim said. "I'd really like to head back upstairs."

"Of course, Master Timothy," Alfred said as he checked the IV and nodded that it could be removed. "Just one moment."

When Alfred had come in Dick had moved off to the side, out of the way. He hovered, bouncing a little and generally showing his nervousness. Tim ignored him, waiting somewhat patiently for Alfred to remove the IV needle and put a bandage on. Alfred's disapproval was still perfectly clear but he didn't say anything.

"Miss Stephanie is here," Alfred said once Tim's hand was free. "I believe that she is upstairs talking to Mr. Wilson."

"Alfred," Tim complained because really, that wasn't fair to Slade at all. He'd only gone back upstairs to make sure that Ra's hadn't penetrated the Manor's security system.

"I believe that's it, Master Timothy," Alfred said. He didn't acknowledge Tim's dismayed look or Dick's nervous bouncing. "You may go now."

Tim went. 

Dick trailed along behind him like a puppy looking for a cuddle but neither of them said anything. After everything that had happened, Tim certainly wasn't willing to apologize for his statements. For his part, Dick didn't seem able to apologize for how he'd treated Tim. Or maybe he didn't think he'd done anything wrong. There was no way to tell.

It was easy to find Slade and Steph. Their voices carried down the hallway, or at least Steph's did. She sounded furious, which either meant that Slade had said something rude to her or he hadn't said anything at all to her. Tim had to assume that Alfred had told her about his and Slade's new relationship. There wasn't much of a reason for her to be up here instead of down in the cave checking on Tim, otherwise. He paused outside the room that houses the Manor's security equipment, sighing.

"I can't believe you'd take advantage of him that way!" Steph yelled. "Wasn't it bad enough that you did it to Dick? You had to go and do it to Tim, too?"

"He's not taking advantage of me," Tim snapped when Slade's shoulders went tight enough that it looked like he might attack. "Stop it, Steph."

"But he flat out said that he's, you know, having sex with you!" Steph protested while waving her hands at Slade.

"He is," Tim said. "What's wrong with that? I enjoy it. He enjoys it. It's fun. Temporary, granted, but fun. It's certainly better than being spied on and told that I'd gone crazy and needed 'help'."

Steph winced, backing off a step as Tim moved into the room to lay one hand on Slade's too-tight shoulders. She stared at Tim, frowned at the way Slade relaxed. Dick was still fidgeting but he'd stayed outside, so at least the room wasn't overly crowded. After a moment Steph sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"He better not hurt you," Steph said while glaring at Slade.

"Only if he wants me to," Slade replied.

"Tim!"

"Oh Steph, really," Tim groaned. "You know perfectly well I like that sort of thing."

"You two…?" Slade asked as he wagged a finger between the two of them.

Tim nodded and shrugged. Their friendship had grown into something more and then evolved back into friendship long enough ago that Tim wondered sometimes what it would have been like if their kinks were more compatible. Steph's fundamental discomfort with anything pain related during sex had doomed their sexual relationship from the start.

Still, that didn't stop Steph from glaring at Slade as though she wanted to cut his balls off and feed them to him. His glare only got a returning glare from Steph. As far as Tim could tell Slade was amused by her attitude, at least he seemed to be now that Tim was in the room. When they'd arrived he'd looked truly annoyed to Tim.

"Alfred gave you the okay?" Slade asked.

"Yes," Tim said. "He really doesn't approve but that's to be expected."

"If everyone in the family disapproves then why are you doing it, Tim?" Steph demanded.

"Everyone in the family disapproved of my belief that Bruce was alive," Tim snarled, abruptly fed up with the attitude they were all giving him. "I didn't let it stop me because I knew I was right. What Slade and I have is temporary, Steph. It's not going to last. I don't need your permission or want your approval. I've got the right to take what little joy there is in my life when I find it. God knows that it's going to go away just like everything else in my life."

Steph and Dick both winced at that. Ingrained instinct made Tim want to apologize but he was tired of this. He'd put up with everyone ignoring him for ages in the belief that when push came to shove they'd be there for him. But when push actually had come to shove, Tim had been completely alone. The only two people to believe him had been Slade and Ra's al Ghul. Tim was relatively certain that Ra's had professed his belief strictly as a ploy to get his hooks into Tim.

"Come on," Tim said, clamping his hand around Slade's wrist. "I'm done with this."

"Where are we going?" Slade asked. There was enough humor in his voice that Tim dragged him out of the security room.

"Bed."

Laughter echoed through the hallways as Slade burst into belly laughs. Dick and Steph's objections weren't something that Tim was going to listen to, no matter how loud they were. To his annoyance, they followed Tim and Slade, Steph spouting reasons why it was a bad idea and Dick spluttering incoherently.

"Go away!" Tim snapped at them before slamming the door in their faces.

"Tim!" Steph's bellow was easily heard through the door but she didn't try the knob, thank goodness.

"I'm not talking to you, Steph!" Tim bellowed back even though Slade was sitting on the bed and laughing so hard that he had to wipe tears from his good eye. "Go away!"

"You wouldn't really," Steph complained loudly.

Tim growled and strode over to Slade to shove him back onto the bed. The surprised (and very approving) look on Slade's face made it all the more appealing to prove Steph wrong. Slade didn't protest at all as Tim wrenched Slade's shirt up and over his head. He helped Tim pull his pants off and then kissed Tim so seriously that he barely realized that Slade was pulling Tim's shirt off with a great deal more gentleness than Tim had used.

"On the bed, get on the bed," Tim ordered.

"I think I like this side of you," Slade drawled.

He was already getting hard, which made it much easier for Tim to swallow Slade down. Slade's cock hardened dramatically as Tim worked his mouth over it. Normally Slade was relatively quiet, just murmuring dirty talk and praise as they fucked. This time he was loudly enthusiastic about the dirty talk.

"Oh yeah, that's it," Slade groaned over the sounds of Steph's apparent fit outside their bedroom door. "Fuck yeah. You look good this way. Suck me, get it nice and hard."

"Mmmgh," Tim groaned.

He had to reach down and adjust his pants when they got too tight. The inherent exhibitionism that went along with being a vigilante was rearing its head in a very big way. Knowing that Steph and Dick were outside listening to Slade praising Tim for his cock-sucking skills had him on the edge with no further physical contact. Even the gash in his side wasn't going to stop him from fucking Slade hard.

Sucking hard and fast while working Slade's cock with his hand quickly reduced Slade to enthusiastic grunts. His hands rested on Tim's head, not controlling in any way. If anything, his fingers trembled slightly from the effort not to force Tim to take it deeper, harder, faster. Tim responded to that restraint by doing it anyway, opening his throat and swallowing Slade.

"Holy fuck yes," Slade gasped. "Damn it but you're good at that, kid."

"Want you," Tim panted. "In me, hard, fast."

"You are wounded," Slade said but it was more of a comment on methodology than a refusal. 

He checked the bedside table and nodded approvingly at the condoms and lube that Tim always kept there. The lube was tossed at Tim who shuddered, stripped his pants off as quickly as humanly possible, and then set to work with the lube. Slade watched every movement, eyes locked onto Tim's fingers as he opened himself up far too quickly and brutally but right now it was perfect.

"On your back," Tim told Slade. "I want you on your back."

"You got it," Slade replied.

It was Tim's turn to groan as Slade settled in the middle of the bed with one arm behind his head and the other hand holding his cock so that Tim could mount up. The sounds from outside were gone so either Dick and Steph had left or they'd gone quiet so that they could listen at the doorway more easily. Tim really didn't care either way. 

This was his. Everything else in his life had been taken away and this thing he had with Slade was something that was fully and completely his. No matter how temporary it would be, for right now, Slade was his and he was Slade's and they could do this. 

Tim shook his tumbling thoughts away as he straddled Slade. He paused as the head of Slade's cock slid inside, allowing himself a moment to get used to the feeling. That moment was over quickly, as soon as Slade's hands settled onto Tim's hips. Then he plunged down, getting a bark of surprise from Slade that made Tim groan loudly.

"Oh yes," Tim sighed.

He started pounding himself on Slade's cock, hands braced on his muscular chest. Tim's side protested at first but Slade's hands took much of the effort out of it by propelling Tim up and down with a little snap of his hips that made Tim gasp the first time it happened. Slade grinned at the gasp, repeating the movements every third or fourth stroke, just infrequently enough that Tim gasped each time at the impact and showers of pleasure-pain-pleasure that they caused.

"N-not going to… last," Tim panted an endless minute or so later. It felt like forever but that part of his brain that never stopped being aware of time told him that it had only been a minute or so.

"Can't have that," Slade chuckled. "Unless you want to come and then have me fuck you through the mattress while you're all loose and sensitive."

Tim's whine was apparently answer enough because Slade laughed and then lifted his hips so that he could pound up into Tim. The added stimulation made Tim's eyes fall shut and his mouth drop open. The sounds he heard coming from his mouth were barely human, whimpers and desperate moans that almost made words but never quite made it to comprehensibility. Slade held Tim's hips still, allowing him to control everything that Tim experienced.

His orgasm hit so fast that there wasn't time to warn Slade that it was coming. Tim shouted and jerked as he came all over Slade's stomach. Slade groaned appreciatively, giving Tim a few moments to catch his breath. Then he flipped them over so suddenly that Tim squawked with surprise.

"Hands over your head," Slade ordered. "Grab the headboard."

"Oh yeah," Tim moaned.

He got a firm grip on the slats of the headboard, nodding to Slade. He wrapped Tim's legs around his hips before setting his hands on either side of Tim's head. It was almost like being restrained having Slade's arms so close to his face and his limbs arranged that way. Slade licked his lips, nodded once and then began to move.

The first few strokes were entirely too gentle for Tim's tastes. Slade moved as if he expected that Tim would protest that it was too hard so Tim kicked Slade's ass with his heels, cursing under his breath about stubborn assassins who wouldn't do what Tim wanted. That got Tim a laugh and gradually harder thrusts that made the bed bounce. By the time it was hard enough for Tim's mood the bed was bouncing and thumping against the wall with each thrust. Slade grinned and added an extra little force to his thrusts by using his arms against Tim's shoulders. That made the bed groan with each thrust but Tim didn't care at all.

Despite having just come, Tim was hard again, panting and moaning so loudly that the others could probably hear them downstairs, much less in the hallway. He did his best to thrust back against Slade's hips though there wasn't much that he could do. That lack of control was a major factor in Tim's excitement.

"Gotta tie you up and do this," Slade growled. Sweat beaded his brow and upper lip. His good eye was warm with approval and excitement.

"Yes!" Tim shouted. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

The next flurry of thrusts was so fast and powerful that Tim lost track of everything other than the feeling of being deliciously used. He could hear the bed creaking dramatically but didn't care, not until something underneath his shoulders and back groaned and then snapped. They dropped abruptly, Slade barking something as he pulled Tim up into his lap as if they were under attack. It pushed Tim over the edge into a second orgasm that was just as powerful as the first. That appeared to be all it took to push Slade over the edge because he came as well, groaning into Tim's hair as he held Tim close.

By the time Tim's breathing had calmed a little bit he was highly aware of the fact that the bed had a distinct sway in the center of it. Eventually he pulled back from Slade, keeping his arms draped over Slade's shoulders so that he could look at the bed. Tim started laughing, burying his face in Slade's shoulder.

"We broke the bed," Tim snickered.

"Yeah, sure did," Slade chuckled. "You're okay?"

"Very okay," Tim said.

He pulled back again, meeting Slade's eye and smiling at the concern filling it. Slade gently caressed Tim's sides, hand ghosting over the injury as if even brushing it would make Tim flinch. Tim snorted, pulling Slade in for a kiss that started out hot and demanding but which quickly faded into tender and more content than Tim had been for at least a year and a half, possibly several years.

"I'm fine," Tim whispered against Slade's lips. "I need a sturdier bed, obviously, but I'm fine. That was perfect."

"Good," Slade said. "But you get to explain why you need a new bed to Alfred."

Tim laughed again, letting Slade lay them both down in the middle of the bed. It was strange, like lying in a nest rather than on a bed, but Tim wasn't at all ready to face the others and their disapproval. Once Slade took care of the condom they held each other. Slade kept petting Tim's back and sides, as if he couldn't get enough touch to satisfy the need.

"I'll deal with them," Tim promised. "Do have a question though."

"What?" Slade asked. One hand closed around Tim's hip while the other brushed Tim's bangs off his face.

"How serious was it with Dick?" Tim asked. "He's reacting much more strongly to us than I expected. Steph's reaction is normal. She's this way with everyone I get involved with, but Dick is… odd about this."

Slade nodded thoughtfully. He smiled wryly at Tim, his expression just a little embarrassed. "It's already a lot more serious between us than it ever was with Dick. Most of the time it was just reaction sex after close calls. Occasionally he'd call me or I'd call him but that was it. We never did have very complimentary kinks. That kid can never sit still."

Tim chuckled and let himself relax against Slade's chest. That was reassuring. He would have loved to get some sleep but until the bed was fixed that wasn't going to be possible. Still, Tim didn't get up. For the moment he was warm and relatively comfortable. Fixing the bed could wait for a few minutes more. He was right where he wanted to be at the moment.

+++++

It was the weirdest fucking thing that Jason had seen in a while outside of the nightmares that ran behind his eyelids: Timothy fucking Drake and Slade goddamn Wilson standing side by side in Gotham. Weirder than their simple presence next to each other without active combat going on, it looked to Jason like they were actually working together.

Granted, the Replacement had changed since big Daddy Bats bit the big one but going over to the dark side? That didn't make a damn bit of sense unless the kid had been drugged the way Rose had. But he didn't look drugged. Maybe a little damaged from the way he was favoring his left side, but not drugged. It made Jason curious and that was generally not a good thing for the Replacement. Somehow Jason didn't think he'd get to 'play' with Baby Bird this time. Wilson's shoulders had already gone tight. He must have caught Jason's scent when the wind shifted as he came up.

Jason fiddled with his comms, eventually homing in on the one channel that the Replacement and Wilson were using, not that they really needed to given how close they were standing. To his surprise, it was filled with chatter from people who sounded like they were in the process of moving. That explained what they were doing (stakeout) but not why they were so buddy-buddy.

"He's not being subtle at all," Baby Bird murmured to Wilson, the sound just barely carrying over their comms. Must have their comms muted or at least tucked away so that their voices didn't carry.

"You expected him to be?" Wilson murmured back. 

It sounded like an actual question, which was interesting, really fucking interesting. They actually were teamed up, weird as that was. Jason frowned, moving closer as quietly as he could. Wilson already knew Jason was there but the Replacement pretty clearly didn't. Jason wondered just how much he trusted Wilson at his back. Was he really relying on fucking Deathstroke to keep himself safe or what?

Baby Bird nodded. "Ra's has always been very subtle about achieving his goals. On one occasion B and I counted seventeen known layers of deception with another nine presumed layers under that. For him to be this forthright is quite unusual."

"He's either entirely confident or it's another deception," Wilson murmured.

Jason glowered at the mention of Ra's. If that fucker was trying to move into Gotham then it made a hell of a lot more sense for the Replacement to be working with Wilson. Having Deathstroke on your side when you went up against the League of Assassins made it one hell of a lot more likely that you'd survive. Smart on Baby Bird's part even if it was gonna get him killed once the alliance was over.

To Jason's shock, Wilson rubbed one hand over Drake's back right at the base of his spine. Instead of glaring or stepping away, Drake shivered and arched his back a tiny bit as if encouraging Wilson to do more. It was such a blatantly sexual move that Jason had to reassess just what sort of arrangement the two of them had. The nonverbal invitation didn't stop Baby Bird from showing off his brains, of course. Jason was pretty sure he'd spout plans and facts as he lay dying.

"I think it's both," Drake sighed while Wilson rubbed his back possessively. He sounded like a cat getting petted just right. "I suspect that we've missed a dozen different plans that are all coming to fruition right now. Of course, there's always the possibility that this is a decoy and that Ra's is actually somewhere else watching us watch his double."

Wilson snorted as his fingers moved up to brush over the spot on Drake's side that he'd been favoring earlier. The little touch made Drake smile over his shoulder at Wilson. Jason's stomach lurched a bit. He'd never seen Drake look that tenderly at anyone other than Dickie-bird and of course Dickie-bird had never caught onto the love in it. The hell was going on here? Jason moved closer, sure that Drake would pick up on his presence anytime now.

"I'm fine," Drake murmured. "It's mostly healed up."

"Someone's watching us," Wilson murmured back as he pressed up against Drake's back, all but wrapping himself around the Replacement. His arms and legs were carefully arranged so that Drake could attack if needed.

"Where?" Drake asked, twisting his head so that it looked like he was going for a kiss. Apparently neither of them had realized that he'd already hacked their comms.

"Eight o'clock high," Wilson replied. 

Jason snorted when Drake turned the rest of the way around to claim that kiss. It was pretty obvious that Drake spotted Jason watching them from the top of another building behind them when he turned around. He did a pretty good job of letting his eyes slide right past Jason, for all the good that did. Instead of moving to attack the way Jason expected, Drake moved in kissed the hell out of Wilson.

Jason had expected a light kiss, one that furthered the illusion that they were unaware of Jason's presence but apparently Wilson had different aims. He grasped Drake's hips and pulled him close, plundering Baby Bird's mouth with his tongue, lips and teeth. It was as close to vertical sex as they could get when fully dressed and standing on a rooftop. The thought that Jason, and maybe Ra's, was watching them kiss this way apparently only made Drake more enthusiastic about the kiss because he wrapped his arms around Wilson's neck to keep him there when Wilson tried to pull back.

All Jason could think was 'what the fuck?' because seriously, what the fuck was up with Timothy pure as wind-driven snow Drake fucking Deathstroke?

"Trouble?" Wilson murmured against Drake's cheek once they stopped kissing. 

"Probably not," Drake murmured back. "If he was going to cause trouble then he would have already. Jason isn't exactly known for hesitating before attacking."

Wilson chuckled, nuzzling Drake's forehead, nose and then gently licking Drake's lips. Jason couldn't help but be amused as well. Baby Bird did have a point. If Jason had wanted to take them out he would have done it a while ago, preferably before Wilson was aware of him. If that was possible, which Jason wasn't very fucking sure of. After a moment Jason chuckled and swung down to their rooftop.

"Not the best way to conduct a stakeout but nice to watch, Replacement," Jason drawled.

"Ra's knows we're here," Drake answered from the circle of Wilson's arms. "He's probably watching us watching him."

"What's that fucker doing here?" Jason growled.

"Trying to take over B's fortune," Drake answered so seriously that it might just be true.

When he looked at Wilson, the fucker actually nodded grimly enough that Jason had to believe them both. Jason's jaw dropped open for a second. He snapped it just again, growling through his teeth while eyeing the building with Ra's' men. It wouldn't take too terrible much to blow the fuckers up though the collateral damage would be pretty severe. They were right across the street from Wayne Enterprises' main office building and Ra's only had one floor, not the whole building. Several hundred innocent people would be caught in the crossfire. Drake unwrapped one arm from Wilson's neck so that he could wave Jason off. The fact that Drake didn't even attempt to get out of the embrace made Jason raise an eyebrow.

"You two really are a thing, aren't you?" Jason commented.

"For now," Drake said, nodding confirmation. "Slade is being paid to protect me but the… rest of our interactions are fully consensual."

"As if anyone could force you into fucking them, Replacement," Jason snorted. "Unless it was for a mission. That's different."

"I'll have you know that I have never had sex for any mission, thank you very much," Tim huffed.

"Another one of your lovers? You really do have a type," Slade chuckled. He laughed at Jason's start of shock and Drake's fierce blush. "Ah. Not lovers. You just wanted him."

If he hadn't been so astonished at the thought of Timothy Jackson Drake being interested in him Jason would have been laughing at the ferocious blush on Drake's face. Hell, he'd known that Baby Bird was seriously stuck on Dickie-bird. There'd been a few signs of him liking Jason as well but they were so quickly stifled that he'd never quite believed that there was a crush on Jason as well.

"The hell?" Jason mumbled.

"You really didn't know?" Drake asked. "I thought everyone knew that I had crushes on both the older Robins."

"Seriously?" Jason asked, getting amused rather than stunned just because of Drake's combination of ferocious blush and matter of fact tone of voice.

"Very much so," Drake replied. "I actually have more pictures of you than Dick."

That made Jason laugh and rub the back of his neck while shaking his head at Drake. Freaky little stalker like Drake would do something like that. It was a little weird to think that maybe there had been potential for them to be something other than enemies, if only Jason's brains hadn't been scrambled by the goddamned Pit and Talia's brain-fuck. He had to admit that Drake was hot in that lean, nasty-dangerous way that Jason had always liked. It might have been interesting if things had gone differently.

Jason's look over Drake's lean body clearly didn't make Wilson happy. He tightened his arms around Drake's waist, getting an amused look from Drake. The only possible response was to smirk and then eye Drake's groin in the most obvious way he could. Drake's cheeks went red again but he didn't seem to mind having two Alpha males posturing over him. Still, tangling with a pissed off Deathstroke wasn't high on Jason's agenda for the night so he looked across the street at Ra's' new base.

"Suppose you're going to say that I shouldn't blow them up," Jason drawled. It was only the expression on his face that made it into a question.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," Drake agreed. "It would only drive him underground and Bruce will be back eventually."

"Most people don't come back from the dead, Replacement," Jason said, surprised that Drake of all people needed to be reminded of that. "Ought to let it go."

"He's not dead," Drake said, tightening his hands around Wilson's arms when they tightened comfortingly around him. "He's lost in time. I have proof of that. Stop by the Cave and I'll show you. And yes, you'd be welcome. Slade's living with me there. I hardly think you're on the same level as he is. You're family, for all that you choose to act like you're not."

Most of what Drake said went straight the fuck over Jason's head. He wasn't dead. Bruce wasn't dead. The fucker was alive somewhere. Jason wasn't exactly sure what he felt about that but it was a painful goddamn mixture of elation, relief, grief, anger and something that might be love if he looked at it closely. Not that he wanted to look too closely at that particular reaction. He'd given up on ever being allowed back into the family ages ago, no matter what his fucking Replacement said.

"He's alive," Jason said.

"Yes," Tim replied. "Lost in time."

"Goddamn son of a bitch can't just die like everyone else, can he?" Jason grumbled while glaring at Ra's men. "Gotta go and do even more impossible shit."

"It is Bruce," Tim sighed.

"Why aren't you out there bringing him back?" Jason asked. He realized when Tim glared down at the other building that he was dangerously close to actually being nice to the kid. Drake, not Tim, Jason reminded himself.

"Because if I go, Ra's will take over Bruce's fortune and undo everything he's worked for all these years," Drake complained. "I won't let that happen. Superman's got a team working on bringing him home."

He could see how much the Replacement wanted to be out there helping in the search. To his surprise, Wilson looked like he wouldn't mind being a part of that too. They were almost cute together, even though both of them were too dangerous to call them adorable. Interestingly enough, it looked to Jason like Drake might just be a bit of a sub from the way he let Wilson hold and physically control him. When Jason snorted in amusement both Wilson and Drake raised eyebrows at him.

"Never figured you for being a sub, Baby Bird," Jason said, drawing out the words 'Baby Bird' enough that it was all but a verbal caress. "Woulda handled that fight in the Tower completely different if I'd known. Mighta been a hell of a lot of fun."

Drake's eyes dilated just a bit, as if he'd thought about that fight and wanked off on it so many times that it was automatic to respond to the memory. His response sure as hell wasn't missed by Wilson who glared at Jason as if trying to figure out every possible way to kill him in as short an amount of time as possible.

"Well, keep it in mind after we break up," Tim, Drake, the Replacement said. His fingers trembled a little around Slade's wrists as if he really, seriously, wanted Jason to do just that.

"Don't even know if our kinks would be compatible," Jason protested automatically because no fucking way was Baby Bird into the SM things that Jason got off on.

"You'd be surprised," Wilson said with just enough smugness for Jason's cheeks to go red.

Tim - The Replacement's! - smirk and answering blush was enough to make Jason's breath catch. Apparently he'd missed one hell of an opportunity. Kinda sucked that there was little to no chance that he'd be able to woo Drake away from Wilson. But they did say outright that it was temporary. Looking at the way they held each other, the ferocious jealousy and pride in Wilson's face and the contentment in Drake's, Jason couldn't help but smile a little wryly at them. They didn't look temporary to him. They looked damn close to married to Jason.

"Yeah, well, I don't see the two of you breaking up anytime soon," Jason drawled. "Send me the data on Ra's, Baby Bird. I'll see what I can do to blow his shit up for him."

He didn't wait for a reply. As Jason put his helmet back on and then headed out across the rooftops, he heard Tim's breath catch over the comms. Wilson's snort was half amused and half damn relieved. They really were stuck on each other, no matter what they were telling themselves.

"That went better than I would have expected," Tim commented to Wilson.

"Ass," Wilson grumbled.

"Mmm, well, you do realize that I have a type," Tim laughed.

"I'm not an ass!" Wilson complained.

The sound of the kiss that cut off any further complaints made Jason grin despite the way his heart hurt. Yeah, he obviously had missed something big when he'd fought Tim before. Kind of sucked that he didn't figure it out when he still had a chance but maybe, in a few years, Tim and Slade would break up. He'd have to make sure that he was around so that he got that second chance.

It looked like waiting for Tim might just be worth it.

+++++

The last week and a half had been quite interesting both in what had happened and what hadn't happened. At home, Dick still looked at Tim and Slade as if he was bewildered by their relationship. Steph had calmed down after the broken bed incident; or more accurately after she and Slade had a discussion that devolved into an epic battle in the blue drawing room before Alfred intervened and kicked them out. They then took it down to the Cave where the battle lasted another hour and a half.

By the time Tim decided that he ought to save Steph, she was soaked with sweat, stumbling through her kicks but grinning at Slade as if he was her new best friend. For Slade's part, he'd been slightly sweaty and chuckling. Later Slade had confided that Tim obviously had a type. Tim had just raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. He certainly couldn't deny it as it was very true.

Damian had taken rather longer to get over his wariness around Slade. He seemed to have expected that Slade would treat him as his mother and Ra's had. When Slade didn't, Damian found it suspicious, at least until Slade pinned him to the floor and said that he never killed kids, no matter how annoying they were. That didn't mean that he wouldn't cripple Damian if he kept needling Tim, though. The existence of Slade's personal code of honor fascinated Damian to the point that whenever Tim left them alone he was guaranteed to come back to Damian questioning Slade about how he would handle this violent, bloody horrible situation or that mind-bendingly awful choice that Tim was certain had been drawn from Damian's training before he joined the family. Tim rarely interrupted those conversations after Slade told him late one night that he really should have had conversations like that with Grant, Joey and Rose.

Alfred's attitude was still chilly but the obvious care that Slade took for Tim's health and the fact that Slade was almost completely self-reliant, thus minimizing their contact, appeared to have helped calm him down. There was an inevitable painful discussion about personal responsibility and the inadvisability of getting involved with known killers coming but Tim had ducked out on all of Alfred's attempts to start the discussion. He knew it was immature but he really didn't want to get into that fight with Alfred, especially when Tim could probably give the lecture himself.

Tim knew that this was a bad idea. He did. Everything about this was a bad idea but after losing so much and finally finding someone who not only believed him but also who shared his kinks Tim really didn't care. It was temporary. For now he'd take what joy he could find in life, no matter what the cost was later.

Outside of the family, things had finally come to a head with Ra's. Tim was positive that Ra's had gotten to Hush. His behavior in the last couple of months had been out of character, though he was doing a lovely job pretending to be Bruce Wayne. Tim's discussions with Lucius had progressed to the point that they were ready to move against Ra's. No matter what Ra's' plans had been, Tim was quite certain that he had effective counters for them.

Controlling Hush would have been a highly appropriate method to take over Bruce's fortune if it weren't for the fact that Bruce was congenitally paranoid and had made plans to prevent Hush from ever doing anything of the sort. Granted, the world thought it was because Bruce himself was incompetent to control his money, but Tim, Dick and Damian all had authority to stop Hush or Brucie from spending too much in the wrong places. Currently Tim had the highest level of authority since he'd actually been working with Wayne Industries before Bruce's 'death' but they could all stop Hush with a word.

That was quite ineffective when dealing with Ra's, of course, so Tim already had the paperwork in place to have himself declared an emancipated minor which should remove yet another layer of Ra's' machinations. Lucius should be done with that by the end of the hour, baring ninja attacks. Actually, Tim thought with a smile, Lucius would likely have it done even if he was attacked by ninjas. He was nearly as formidable as Bruce was in his own way, especially given the safeguards that Tim and Dick had installed around Lucius.

"Interesting," Ra's drawled.

"What is?" Tim asked. He had to twist his head slightly to make Ra's out. It wasn't easy to see Ra's when Tim was hanging upside down by his ankles with his wrists chained to the floor underneath him.

"You are rather more calm about this than I expected," Ra's said.

He slowly strolled in a circle around Tim, occasionally lashing out with a bamboo cane that Tim suspected held a hidden sword. The strikes were vicious, designed to cause pain but not to incapacitate. Obviously, Ra's had plans for Tim's further survival. To Tim's relief every one of the blows so far had avoided the still healing stab wound in his stomach.

"Hmm, I suppose I am," Tim said through gritted teeth as Ra's' cane hit a nerve cluster on the back of his right leg, numbing it for a moment before making his entire leg tingle agonizingly.

When Ra's circled back around to glare down into Tim's eyes he was showing signs of annoyance. That level of emotion out of Ra's made a frission of fear run up Tim's spine but he did his best not to show it. It was important to keep Ra's distracted long enough for his and Lucius' plans to take effect. The Titans had agreed to protect everyone that Tim cared about, from Alfred all the way down to Vicky Vale who was still being entirely too annoying about investigating the family.

"You think that you can escape this?" Ra's asked as he held the tip of the cane against Tim's Adam's apple.

"No," Tim said despite the pain from Ra's' cane.

"Really?" Ra's drawled. 

He released enough of the pressure to allow Tim to breathe and swallow comfortably only to whip the cane around against Tim's rib cage. A flurry of blows followed, robbing Tim of the ability to breathe, as well as of the ability to scream in pain. Tim focused on breathing, trying to drag air into his lungs despite the pain screaming at him. All he had to do was last long enough for Slade to get there. 

After a long moment where Tim wasn't entirely certain that he'd stay conscious through it all, Ra's pulled back with a troubled frown. Ra's turned towards his ninjas hiding in the shadows only to stiffen as Slade, in full Deathstroke regalia, stalked out instead of Ra's' faithful minions.

"I see," Ra's said. "You were but the bait."

"Let him go," Slade growled.

"I think not," Ra's replied. "We still have things to discuss."

"It's already too late," Tim said, capturing Ra's' attention as well as Slade's. The words did come out rather more pained and weak than Tim would have preferred but he blamed the beating and hanging upside down all this time for it. "We've already blocked your plans, Ra's. You won't get Bruce's fortune today."

Ra's glared at Tim. He snarled and drew the hidden sword as Slade moved more quickly than Tim could track. The ropes suspending Tim abruptly slackened. It wasn't until Tim had tumbled to the floor on his back that he realized that Slade had cut him free with his sword. He immediately worked on getting his hands free despite the way the world swooped and spun. His hands were swollen from the inversion, making it harder to get free than it should have been. Once he was free he thought about getting up and helping Slade battle Ra's. 

Thought about it while carefully easing himself up into a sitting position. 

And then he thought about it a while longer before he decided that he wasn't going to get in the middle of that battle. For all the training Tim had had with Shiva and elsewhere, he wasn't a swordsman. His talents lay elsewhere.

Slade and Ra's battled back and forth through the darkness surrounding Tim. The sparks from their blades clashing together illuminated them like flashes of lightning. Their movements were far too fast for Tim to follow. He'd never seen Slade let loose before. In all of the battles he'd seen and all of the practice he'd participated in, Slade had held back a significant degree of his strength and speed.

He wasn't holding back at all now.

Deathstroke, Slade, drove Ra's through the darkness, countering his every trick and all his centuries of skill with inhuman abilities that Ra's couldn't match, no matter how hard he tried. Tim wondered if someday he might be one eighth that good before dismissing the thought. It was irrelevant at the moment. Besides, their plans were not yet complete.

"O?" Tim asked, checking his comm link to see if it was intact.

"Here," Barbara answered immediately. Her synthesized voice sounded worried. "Conditions?"

"Mostly intact," Tim reported. "Deathstroke is battling Ra's. Project completion?"

"Done," Barbara said with enough satisfaction that it came through the synthesizer. "Found some additional opportunities, too. He's going to be very unhappy when he finds out."

"Perfect," Tim sighed as he levered himself to his feet. "RR out."

He could tell that Slade noticed that Tim was up and limping towards them. The blows hammering at Ra's increased in speed to the point that Ra's was driven back against a wall. Tim heard rather than saw the blow that literally nailed Ra's to that wall. As he limped over, Tim heard Ra's bite back a groan that was mixed with heaving panting. Slade was breathing very slightly more heavily than normal when Tim reached his side.

Ra's had been stabbed through the shoulder by one of Slade's swords. He was bleeding heavily from several major wounds that should be fatal in the very near future. Tim found that he truly wasn't upset by that. It wasn't as though Ra's would stay dead, not with his people coming soon. They would throw him into Lazarus Pits and resurrect him within days, perhaps within hours.

"Good job," Tim commented.

"He's not bad," Slade said as he took Tim's elbow. "You okay?"

"More or less," Tim said, shrugging his concern away but not his hand. "Bruises, no broken bones. Bit light-headed from the suspension but that's all."

"This is not over," Ra's growled rather more weakly than Tim had ever heard from him. "Your friends will pay for this insolence, Timothy."

"Actually, it already is over," Tim said with a confident smile. Ra's frowned as he began to go pale and shook from blood loss. "My friends are safe, Ra's. I have allies and I'm not afraid to use them. I'm not Batman. Also, you have vulnerabilities that have been… exploited. I'm sure that you'll have a great deal to work on once you're revived. Not many resources to do it with but a great deal to work on."

Ra's jerked, hissing as his movement shifted the sword in his wound. The hiss and slight increase in blood flow made Slade chuckle. He reached out and jerked the sword out of Ra's' shoulder, adding a little twist that widened the wound even further.

"Leave him alone," Slade ordered as Ra's bled out. "Next time I'll take your fucking head and burn it if you don't."

"You think… that Timothy will… allow that?" Ra's asked.

"Actually," Tim said as he headed for the exit, "I would."

When Ra's gasped something incoherent at him Tim looked over his shoulder. Ra's actually looked shocked by that. Tim shrugged and then winced because his ribs really were killing him after that beating. Slade snorted at Ra's' surprise.

"I don't expect Slade to be anything other than who and what he is," Tim said as the light began to fade from Ra's' eyes. "I wouldn't even try to stop him. After all, I am not Batman and hopefully I never will be."

There was no reply from Ra's other than a rasp as his body stopped breathing. That end of life made Tim shudder even though he knew that it was temporary. Slade rubbed Tim's back gently, guiding him towards the door. Tim could hear Ra's' people coming which meant that Slade had heard them quite a while ago and was already calculating which route to take out of Ra's' hideout.

"Let's go home," Tim said.

"You got it, kid," Slade replied as he pushed Tim towards the stairs. "Think you're up to running? We're about to be overwhelmed."

"Yes," Tim said.

They ran ahead of Ra's' forces. Tim's heart was light despite the pain filling his body. Ra's was temporarily neutered. Bruce's fortune was safe. His friends and allies were safe as well. Better still, this wasn't his battle alone, though heaven knew that Slade might decide that it was time to part ways. Tim wasn't likely to need his protection any longer.

+++++

Tim's ribcage wasn't mottled with bruises once Slade got him back to the Manor and back to their room. Hell, he was pretty much one solid bruise. There were a couple of spots high on Tim's shoulder blades that hadn't been beaten but from Tim's collar bone down to his hips, his back and sides were a solid mass of bruise that made Tim wince and shift position cautiously at best.

"I'll be fine," Tim murmured as Slade all but mummified him in bandages.

"If you say so, kid," Slade said.

He knew he was being too abrupt with Tim. The urge to shove Tim away so that Slade wouldn't be hurt when he inevitably left Slade (died) battled against the urge to wrap the kid in bubble wrap so that he'd never be hurt again. It was such a familiar struggle. He'd fought it with Abby, with Grant, Joey, and Rose. God knew that he'd done a crappy job of it with all of them. There was no reason to think he'd do any better with Tim.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked.

He ran his fingers over Slade's beard before slowly and carefully sliding into Slade's lap for a hug that had to hurt like hell given all his bruises. Slade sighed and allowed himself to bury his nose in Tim's hair, inhaling the boy's scent. There was pain and exhaustion in Tim's scent. But there was also worry and fear plus a clear trace of loss. It wasn't hard to figure out where the loss came from.

"I'm not leaving," Slade murmured.

"Ra's has been dealt with," Tim murmured right back, the loss spiking along with the fear. Interestingly the worry dropped as something that Slade thought was Tim's mind making plans rose as well. The pain and exhaustion stayed the same. "There's no reason for you to stay."

"Yeah, I don't agree," Slade said. "Still got the Council of Spiders to deal with. Besides, I'm still being paid."

Tim laughed. It was a ghost of a laugh, just a faint flutter of the diaphragm with a scent of amusement. To Slade's relief the amusement made the loss, fear and planning in his scent fade out a bit. The urge to make Tim stay in until he was perfectly healed and better prepared to defend himself, always presuming that his lingering unacknowledged depression got better, was so strong that Slade had to let Tim go.

"Really, what's wrong?" Tim asked as Slade set him entirely too carefully on the bed.

"I…" 

Slade stopped himself. He stood and started pacing. Tim watched for a moment but after smiling and sighing he just settled under the covers, curled up like a cat with one hand tucked under his cheek. Slade could almost see the cat ears on his head. The twitching of the covers had to be Tim's foot but Slade almost convinced himself that it was a tail.

"Okay, at least you're smiling now," Tim said with a sly smile.

"You'd make an excellent cat," Slade said. 

He laughed at the way Tim spluttered and blushed. Slade came over and sat on the bed next to Tim. It was much more massive than the last bed Tim had, with special steel reinforcement to stand up to their more energetic nights. There were handcuffs attached to the headboard and footboard as well as straps and cuffs for tying Tim up in the bedside table.

"I am not a cat," Tim said in exactly the right huffy tone of voice to sound like an offended cat. His eyes twinkled with amusement so obviously it was deliberate.

"I get possessive, Tim," Slade said while rubbing the one spot on Tim's calf that wasn't bruised. "This… this is pushing buttons that haven't been pushed for a while."

Tim snorted, very carefully rolling onto his back to study Slade. His expression and scent were very calm, other than a hint of fear and loss that seemed to be tied together. The kid had abandonment issues a mile wide and Slade honestly wasn't sure what to do about it. If he could do anything about it. After a moment, Tim sighed while gingerly rubbing his ribs.

"I would guess that you're trying to decide whether to push me away or keep me so safe that I can barely breathe," Tim commented.

Slade swallowed a laugh. "Should have known that you'd figure that out. What gave me away?"

"I dealt with Bruce on a daily basis," Tim said so wryly that the laugh burst out. "Trust me; I've seen the same behavior on a much larger scale. Is that what happened with Rose and Joey?"

The gentle question made Slade wince. He stood and put away the first aid kit, stripped down and then curled up in the bed with Tim held carefully in his arms. It took that long before the simultaneous urge to leave and protect Tim to subside to the point that he could say anything coherent. Tim waited quietly, patiently. He settled into Slade's arms with a tired sigh and a scent that made Slade think that he didn't expect to get a response today, tomorrow, possibly ever. Once the lights were off Slade swallowed down the urge to let it lie. The kid deserved to know what he was getting into on this, no matter how long the relationship lasted.

"I drove them away," Slade murmured against Tim's hair. "Addie, Grant, Joey, Rose. Especially Joey and Rose. A lot of the crap I pulled on them was specifically designed to make them so disgusted with me that they left and never came back."

Tim nodded as if he'd expected that answer. "I thought so from the things that Rose said. And Dick. Why?"

"Addie… hated how I'd protect her," Slade said. "Sometimes I'd want her to stay home, not go out. Stupid on my part. She could kick my ass anytime she wanted to. But I so wanted her to be safe that I'd damn near smother her. Stabbed me once when I tried it. And then when the kids came along it was the same thing. When they were little it was okay. Addie was just as protective of them, more so in some ways. But then they grew up and…"

Tim's hand was rubbing over Slade's stomach as if he was trying to get Slade to relax. Given how tense Slade was, the kid had a point. He deliberately focused on relaxing his body, muscle by muscle. Eventually, once his toes were wiggling under the covers and his shoulders had only just started to tense up again, Tim sighed.

"Your immortality?" Tim asked.

"You sure you don't have extended senses, kid?" Slade asked.

Tim laughed the little laugh that was just a contraction of his diaphragm. "Quite. It was a logical deduction. Everyone you care about will eventually die. Given your abilities it's highly likely that you will continue to live long past their demise."

"Exactly," Slade sighed.

"So you push them away now so that you don't have to feel the pain later," Tim said with an air of saying something about his own emotional states rather than Slade's. "Better to deal with the pain now because who knows what could happen tomorrow?"

"You too?" Slade asked.

All Tim did was nod, his hair bushing against Slade's beard. His shoulders were entirely too tight. Slade didn't dare massage them loose given all the bruises on Tim's body but he did rub his lips over the top of Tim's head again. It appeared to be enough because Tim slowly relaxed, in just a deliberate a pattern as Slade's relaxation earlier.

"Different root causes," Tim said eventually, "but similar results. I've… lost a lot of people, Slade. I have a hard time getting close to anyone anymore."

"Yeah, I know," Slade said. "Abandonment issues a mile wide."

"Both of us," Tim agreed with a little snort.

"Still not leaving," Slade commented.

"No, you'll just wrap me in cotton wool until I heal," Tim sighed.

"You even know what that is?" Slade asked, amused that Tim would reference something like that instead of bubble wrap or something similar.

"I have learned proper medical skills from Alfred Pennyworth," Tim said in a mock British accent that was damn near perfect. "Of course I'm aware of the proper terminology."

Slade laughed, gently hugging Tim who hugged him back. There was a hell of a lot more that they should talk about. He already felt one hell of a lot more for Tim than he had expected when he'd proposed the alliance back in Berlin. It was pretty damn obvious that Tim had the same problem. They really needed to talk about how to handle things when Bruce came back.

But it was late and Tim was injured. They would have to get up and deal with Tim's family tomorrow. Slade let it go, hoping (admittedly pathetically) that Tim would let it go too. Tim seemed to feel the same way, once again, because he rubbed his head against Slade's chest and cheek before slowly relaxing against Slade. He fell asleep quickly.

It took several hours for Slade to fall asleep. When he finally dropped off he dreamed about all the ways he needed to improve Tim's skills and armor to prevent another set of injuries like the ones he'd gotten today.

+++++

Cass nodded to Alfred when she passed him in the hallways. His smile said 'welcome' while his body said 'tense, unhappy, frustrated'. She wasn't sure what had him so on edge until she encountered Dick in the hallway. His body screamed 'mistake, mistake, mistake!' but he beamed at her and held his arms out for a hug.

"Cass!" Dick said as he hugged her and lifted her right off her feet. "You're here!"

"Yes," Cass said, patting his shoulders until he put her back down. "What is wrong?"

"Um, well, Tim came back with proof that Bruce isn't dead but um…" Dick stopped talking as Tim walked out of one of the rooms with Slade Wilson on his heels.

"Oh."

Tim's shoulders went up defensively as he raised his chin to dare her to disapprove. To her surprise Slade looked at her with an expression that said 'don't hurt the kid; this is hard enough for him'. The amount of love in Slade's gentle touch to Tim's back and the way Tim moved to stand between her and Slade said true volumes about their relationship. The truly strange part was how Dick was all but shouting that Tim and Slade being together was a mistake. Cass could see, right there clearly enough that anyone could see it, that they were very good for each other.

"Idiot," Cass commented as she lightly punched Dick in the stomach.

"Ow!" Dick protested, rubbing the spot as he pouted at her.

"Must talk with you," Cass announced. "Now."

"Trouble?" Tim asked, the defensive body language shifting immediately into warily worried instead.

"Think so," Cass replied. "Cave?"

Tim nodded. He led the way, taking the stairs out of what Cass thought was an innate uneasiness about putting Cass and Slade into a small enclosed space for any length of time. It was rather cute that he worried about Slade that way. She didn't think that Slade would hurt her and having seen how they took care of each other Cass knew that she wasn't going to harm him either.

From the puzzled expression on Slade's face, he had used his methods of detecting people's motives to determine that she didn't disapprove of their relationship. Cass looked at him, raising one eyebrow. He looked back, still frowning as if he didn't understand why she approved.

"Idiot," Cass commented so mildly that Slade snorted. She didn't want to antagonize him, after all.

"Most people do need words, Cass," Tim commented once they made it to the computer console.

"He doesn't," Cass said because Slade didn't. She knew he didn't need them anymore than she did.

"Maybe not as many but I do need some," Slade said with a little snort of amusement.

Cass waved one hand to dismiss that concern for the moment. As interesting as the two of them were together, Cass had come home because of a completely different issue. She passed Tim the invitation she had received for the Tournament of Assassins. From the checking she had done before coming home to Gotham, every assassin in the world should have gotten one, including Slade. Perhaps including Tim.

He frowned at the thing, turning it over to examine it before taking it to the lab to check it out properly. Cass followed, Slade by her side. They watched as Tim worked, both of them silent. She suspected that Slade stayed silent because he didn't want to derail Tim's train of thought but it was obvious that he thought it was so that he could study Cass as they waited. His eyes spent more time watching Tim than they did watching Cass. He caught her smiling after a few minutes and glared.

"What?" Slade demanded.

"Cute," Cass said. She laughed at the way Tim's shoulders jerked and a blush crept up the back of his neck.

"Yeah, he is," Slade said only to stop when Cass shook her head no.

"You," Cass said. "Both of you. Together. Cute. Sweet. Good for each other. I approve."

The blush turned Tim's ears red. When he turned around to pass Cass the invitation, his face blazed. Cass giggled, tucking the invitation away again. While Slade's body told her that he was as embarrassed as Tim by her words, he didn't show it anywhere near as much. Instead he smirked at Tim, eyes lingering on Tim's lips, stomach and hands.

"I wasn't able to find out anything about who sent it," Tim said in his 'business now' voice. "Slade received one as well."

"All assassins I know did," Cass agreed. "Most are thinking to participate. Not all."

"It's stupid," Slade growled. "It's got to be a trick to weed out the weaker assassins."

"Or target strongest, those who win," Cass observed. "Weak will die, yes, but strongest are ones to fear."

They stared at her for a long moment before nodding simultaneously. Cass pushed down the urge to giggle at them some more. She would have to see what Steph thought of them. Their relationship was quite interesting and Cass had to believe that Steph was indulging in what she called her 'squee' over the two of them.

"There has to be a central organization or individual behind this," Tim said in a grumbling tone as he moved back to the computers.

"Can't be too many people involved in the planning," Slade agreed. 

He waited until Tim sat and then rested one hand on the back of Tim's neck. Cass didn't think that he was aware that he'd done it but Tim's shoulders relaxed dramatically with the little touch. She could see him focusing better, thinking faster. It was quite dramatic how positive their effect was on each other. Her little nod of approval made both Tim and Slade turn to glare at her.

"Get married," Cass ordered.

Slade spluttered, cheeks going nearly as red as Tim's abruptly flaming face. They stared at her. She stared back. When Slade pulled his hand back Tim's shoulders hunched miserably, as though something he desperately needed had just been taken away because of her words. But he didn't turn and see how heart-sick Slade looked at Tim's shift in mood.

"Good for each other," Cass explained since they were being complete idiots. "Love each other. Make each other smarter, stronger, better. Belong together, no matter what others say."

"We don't," Tim said, abruptly alarmed and trying to explain it all away by lying to himself.

"It's temporary," Slade agreed just as urgently. "A temporary alliance. I'm getting paid to be here, nothing more."

They shut up when Cass put her hands on her hips and glared at them both. No matter what anyone else said or thought, she could _see_ what they did for each other. It was stupid to lie about it to themselves and even worse to lie to each other about it. She'd seen the pain it caused both of them to downplay their relationship at all.

"Lying," Cass declared. "You love each other. Shows. You make each other better, much better. Also shows. Only temporary if you are idiots and push each other away. Should treat it serious and get married. Would be good for both of you."

Tim opened his mouth to protest again but Cass went up on her toes as she intensified the glare. He winced and shut his mouth with a snap. Slade tried to glare her down but Cass jerked her chin at the way Tim was curling in on himself again. One look and a quick flare of his nostrils as Slade sniffed had Slade resting his hand on Tim's shoulder. It was like watching a flower bloom. Tim turned towards Slade and smiled wryly, unaware of the way his shoulders went back and down, the way his hands relaxed, the way his lips curled in a tiny loving smile.

She saw Slade noticing it, saw how he shivered and then tightened his grip on Tim's shoulder. He needed Tim as much as Tim needed Slade. If Tim looked like a flower turning towards the sun, Slade looked at Tim as though he was the Earth to Slade's Moon. Cass was pretty sure that no matter what happened Slade would be orbiting Tim until something, possibly Bruce if he actually was alive, drove them apart for good. And that was good. Being separated would be bad.

"Idiots, both of you," Cass sighed. "Love each other. Belong together. Should get married and be happy together."

Rather than listen to more spluttering or lying excuses that hurt them to make and hear, Cass turned and headed for the stairs. She would find Steph and ask what Steph thought of the two of them. Then she would go see Damian. He must have seen how Slade and Tim helped one another. After that she would pin Dick down until he stopped being stupid. Alfred would be harder but Cass thought that some tea and listening while Alfred carefully did not complain might help.

Either way, Tim and Slade belonged together. Hopefully they would stop being stupid and accept how good they were for each other sometime soon.

+++++

"She's your sister, right?" Slade asked.

Tim had spent the time after Cass' departure from the cave obsessively checking all the data he'd gathered about the Tournament. Despite his attempts to look busy and focused, Slade knew it was just an act. He'd watched Tim check the same data four times in a row before realizing what he was doing. Not that Slade was much better. He'd sharpened his blades three times while trying to hold back the words he knew he both should and shouldn't say.

"Adopted," Tim replied a few seconds later than he should have. "Cass has communication issues."

"Yeah, I know," Slade said. "Her father fucked her up pretty badly."

No matter how much Slade wanted to comment (rant) about Cain's methods of raising Cass, he didn't have much room to comment. He'd fucked up with his kids badly enough that it was a miracle that they'd lived as long as they had. Rose was doing way better than she should have been given what he'd put her through. Slade could only credit her friends and her life before he met her for that. It sure as hell wasn't him.

"You don't have to listen to her," Tim said without meeting Slade's eyes. He turned his body away from Slade to try and hide his expression as much as possible. From his scent and the stiffness of his shoulders he knew perfectly well that it was pointless to try and hide his uneasiness.

"Kid," Slade said, "I know how she was trained. I know what she can do. She wouldn't say it if she didn't see something here."

No surprise, Tim winced like Slade had just stabbed him. The loss/fear/want scents rose to a peak that drove everything out of Slade's mind other than Tim and his fear of losing someone else. It hurt. Not only because Slade felt the same damned way but also because Tim honestly didn't think that Slade would want to stick around. 

Between the two of them they had enough abandonment issues to write a damned textbook but Slade had to believe that Cass had seen something real. He sure as hell enjoyed the time he spent with Tim. His nose told him that Tim enjoyed spending time with Slade as well. They could be something more if only they could get beyond their problems and inability to communicate. Though honestly Slade didn't think words would be how the two of them built something solid together. Neither of them were especially wordy people.

They were far more people of action, people who showed what the felt through gestures and activity. As Tim's shoulders got tighter and his scent told Slade that he was winding himself tight, Slade sighed. They needed a break and to hell with everything else going on right now. Taking a couple of hours to relax together would do them both good.

"Turn off the computer, Tim," Slade ordered.

"I have work to do," Tim replied without looking at Slade. His shoulders ratcheted up another notch and the sound of his fingers on the keyboard got loud enough to be mistaken for low caliber gunfire.

"Tim."

The tone of Slade's voice finally got through to Tim. He froze, slowly turning to look up at Slade. Whatever he saw in Slade's eye made him shiver and lick his lips. As he turned back to the computer, saving everything and shutting it down, Tim's scent changed from stress, loss and worry to arousal. Once the computer was shut down, Tim stood and turned to face Slade. His shoulders finally relaxed and his hands went limp by his sides. Slade smiled.

"We're heading upstairs," Slade told him. "No questions. No talking, not until we've both come our brains out. How do you feel about orgasm denial?"

"Long term is unappealing," Tim said in a remarkably steady voice for the way he shook at the question, "but short term can be quite enjoyable. Belt?"

"We can do that," Slade said, grinning broadly enough for both of them. "Let's go. Hopefully we'll avoid Dick."

"Agreed," Tim sighed. "I really hope he gets over this soon."

They shared an amused and very wry look. Both of them knew that Dick wasn't going to let it go until he really understood that this was fully consensual and a hell of a lot of fun for both of them. He'd probably still have problems with it but that was to be expected. Dick never had been one for large amounts of pain being combined with sex. Even their bondage games had been more about getting Dick to focus than it had been about the bondage itself.

Tim went up the stairs first, taking a back route through the servants' hallways to make it to his room. They managed to avoid everyone, much to Slade's relief. Dick and Damian's voices could be heard coming down the stairs from the third floor as Slade closed and locked the door but he didn't think that either of them had spotted Tim and Slade. Hopefully they'd manage to get some real private time. If they didn't, Slade was going to think about getting a hotel room in town just so that they'd be left alone long enough for a good solid session.

"Strip and get on the bed," Slade told Tim once he was sure that Dick and Damian had bypassed their floor on the way down to the main floor.

"Locked?" Tim asked as he efficiently stripped his clothes off.

"As locked as anything can be in this house," Slade said. 

He grinned when Tim laughed. The bruises from Tim's beating at Ra's' hands were almost gone. Tim had some faint green and yellow marks around his rib cage but his back was pretty much healed. Even the nasty bruise over his right hip was going away, which meant that they could finally play a lot harder than they had been. From how hard Tim's cock was already, he was well aware that they could get a good session going today.

"Stab wound's all healed up," Slade commented as he ran his fingers over the scar.

"I'm still a little sore there but it's not bad," Tim agreed. He kept his hands by his sides, allowing Slade to touch whatever he wanted. "The nerves are finally reconnecting at the deepest part of the wound."

"Good to hear," Slade said. "Your back up for a beating?"

Slade ran his hands over Tim's back, using a firm touch and every one of his senses to detect whether Tim had any lingering sore spots or nerve damage. The shoulder blades were perfectly clear but Slade felt tiny winces around the small of Tim's back. Tim probably didn't even realize that he was sore there. A firm squeeze of Tim's ass made him gasp and moan.

"Oh yeah, you're ready for this, aren't you, baby?" Slade murmured into Tim's ear.

"You only… call me 'baby' when we're playing," Tim commented. He nodded urgently enough that Slade grinned at him.

"True," Slade agreed. "Get on the bed. Grasp the headboard. I'm going to restrain your hands. You want a spreader bar for your knees?"

"Oh God yes," Tim moaned. "Please!"

He hurried to the bed, grasping the specially reinforced headboard right by the cuffs that they hadn't had a chance to use yet. Slade had no idea where Alfred had gotten the new bed but it was sturdy enough to take the worst that Slade could give Tim, though maybe not as much as Slade was capable of. Not that it mattered because Slade wasn't going to permanently damage Tim's body, no matter how wild they got together.

Thoughts of the things they could do in the future danced in Slade's mind as he secured Tim's wrists. A quick kiss with his fingers knotted in Tim's hair turned into the sort of kiss that made Slade think of giving Tim the formula that had given him his powers. When he finally let Tim's lips go, Tim's eyes were blown. Adding the stretcher bar made Tim moan so loudly that it had to be audible in the hallway.

Rather than start with the beating, Slade found one of the new butt plugs that Tim had ordered online. Lubing Tim up and getting it into place didn't have to take too long but Slade stretched it out. They had time right now so they might as well use it.

"Oh fuck," Tim gasped as Slade stroked his prostate while squeezing his cock hard enough to make Tim arch his back and shudder. "Slade!"

"Mmm, you're not coming until I say so, baby," Slade purred. "No matter what I do to you."

"Yes Sir," Tim panted and then whined when the second squeeze was even harder. "Oww! Oh God, Sir!"

"Yeah, that's my sexy boy," Slade murmured.

He kept finger fucking Tim, stretching him out and prepping him for a good quarter hour. By the time he was satisfied by how turned on Tim was Tim's back was wet with sweat and he was panting constantly. The butt plug settled into place with no effort at all. Slade got a towel from the bathroom and wiped his hands off, admiring the spectacle Tim made.

"You're the best sort of porn possible, baby," Slade commented while stripping his shirt and boots off.

"Thank you, Sir," Tim moaned.

To Slade's surprise, Tim didn't look over his shoulder to watch Slade undress. He shivered at the sound of Slade's shirt falling to the floor. When Slade deliberately dropped one boot to the ground with a thud, Tim jerked. His cock jerked too, dripping precome. Slade sauntered over, slowly unbuckling his belt and pulling it from the loops of his pants. That made Tim look though Slade wasn't at all sure that Tim could see Slade. His pupils were so blown out that he probably couldn't see a thing.

Slade caught the hair on the back of Tim's neck, twisting his head around for another deep, hard kiss. Tim returned it with everything he had, whining when Slade dropped the belt to the bed so that he could squeeze Tim's cock yet again. Slade caught the hair on the back of Tim's neck, twisting his head around for another deep, hard kiss. Tim returned it with everything he had, whining when Slade dropped the belt to the bed so that he could squeeze Tim's cock yet again. Every bit of the tension that had been knotting Tim's shoulders was gone now.

"Beautiful," Slade said once he let Tim's cock go. "Just fucking beautiful."

He picked up the belt and went around to the end of the bed. Slade couldn't help but smile. Tim's knees were in the exact same position that Slade had put them in when he'd strapped on the stretcher bar, though Tim's toes were curled in anticipation of what was coming. Sometime he had to spank Tim, hold him down over Slade's thighs and paddle that perfect ass until Tim sobbed.

That time wasn't now, no matter how tempting the thought was. Tim wanted a strapping so a strapping he got. His belt snapped in Slade's hands, making Tim jerk and then relax with a low moan that went straight to Slade's cock. Slade was pretty sure that twenty was going to be all that Tim would need, all that he could take, but they'd see. He wouldn't go any higher than thirty, not when Tim would probably want to go out and patrol tonight or tomorrow.

"Sexy boy," Slade said as he swung the belt and connected with Tim's left shoulder. "No coming until I say so, remember that."

"Ahh!" Tim shouted. 

The red mark was perfect, not enough to bruise or break the skin but obviously painful enough that Tim had to fight for control. Slade added blows, spreading them out over Tim's shoulders for the first ten blows. He stopped and reached under Tim to squeeze his cock hard when the smell of arousal and precome got too high. Tim sobbed something that was probably meant to be 'thank you, sir' but it was incoherent enough that Slade couldn't be sure he understood Tim properly.

"More?" Slade asked while still squeezing Tim's cock hard enough to block him but not so hard as to damage him.

"Uhn!"

"Use your words," Slade chuckled. "More? Yes or no."

"Ye-yes!" Tim gasped. "Please, more, please, Sir!"

"Good boy," Slade said, biting one of the marks just hard enough to make Tim jerk and whine.

The next set of ten went on Tim's ass, turning it a perfect cherry red. By the time Slade had counted the strokes to twenty Tim's panting had turned into desperate sobs of arousal that had Slade's cock throbbing. From Tim's scent he wasn't going to last much longer, no matter what Slade ordered so he tossed the belt aside and stripped out of his pants as quickly as possible.

"Brace yourself," Slade ordered Tim as he grasped the butt plug and then pulled it out too quickly for Tim to actually be ready for it.

Tim wailed, jerking against the cuffs twice before arching his back to present his rosy ass to Slade. The smell and the sheer visual feast of having Tim laid out and waiting for him was nearly enough to undo Slade's self-control. Slowly pushing into Tim's tight heat damn near undid him again.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Tim panted, flexing his back and clamping down on Slade in time with his panting whimpers.

"Yeah, you needed this," Slade growled as he clamped his hands onto Tim's hips so that he couldn't thrust. "Needed to feel me taking it all from you."

"Yes Sir!" Tim gasped. "Oh please!"

"Hold it," Slade ordered. "You don't come until I say you do."

"Yes Sir!" Tim answered.

Amazingly, even though he was obviously so deep in sub space that he barely knew his own name, Tim sounded like he did when he'd just been given a mission. It made Slade grin and shake his head in amazement. How Bruce or anyone else could ever have passed Tim by Slade would never know. The kid was way too damned sexy this way.

Slade started fucking Tim, taking him hard and deep the way he knew Tim loved. Every time the scent of Tim's arousal rose close to the point that he might come, Slade reached around and squeezed his cock hard enough to block the brewing orgasm. He wanted it to last a hell of a lot longer than it looked like it was going to but with Tim making sexy little mews for every thrust and the sheer pleasure of Tim clamping down on his cock drove Slade hard enough that he came way sooner than he intended to. As he came, Slade clamped his hand around Tim's cock, preventing him from coming at the same time.

Tim's wail and squeeze was powerful enough to make Slade groan. "Holy fuck, baby."

"Ohgodohgodohgod," Tim whimpered, panting like a bellows.

Once Slade's breathing calmed but before Tim's had, he pulled out and released Tim's knees from the spreader bar. Getting him out of the cuffs took Slade wrapping an arm around Tim's chest to support him because he went limp. Slade laid them both out on the bed, stroking Tim's cock. Tim wrapped his arms around Slade's neck for a desperate kiss. At the same time he thrust into Slade's hand until he came so hard that he splattered Slade's chest.

"Oh God," Tim wheezed.

"Heh, always glad to promote religious moments," Slade chuckled.

That made Tim start giggling which was the cutest thing Slade had seen in a long damn while. Despite both of them being sweaty and covered in come, Tim curled against Slade's side like a kitten. It took quite a while before Tim's heartbeat calmed. Slade rubbed his back until Tim finally came back enough that he could lift his head to meet Slade's eyes.

"That was…" Tim appeared to run out of words.

"Yeah, it really was," Slade agreed. "Sexy as damn hell, baby. Love to do that to you for the next couple of decades."

Tim stiffened just a bit but only as long as it took for Slade to rub his hand over Tim's still rosy ass. He licked his lips, fear, loss and need cycling through his expression and his scent. Slade waited, not sure what the hell had prompted him to say that. It was the last thing he'd wanted to say, though if he was honest it was the one thing he'd been trying not to say ever since that first time in Berlin.

"I'd… like that," Tim whispered. He buried his face in the nook of Slade's neck, clinging to him so tightly that his words were muffled as he continued. "I would. This is, it's, everything I ever wanted, Slade. It is. But. I don't see how that can happen. We're too different. Opposite sides. It…"

"Hush," Slade said as he pressed his lips against the crown of Tim's head. "Don't worry about it right now, baby. We've got the Council and the Tournament to deal with, Bruce to save and probably Ra's to smack down again. There's time. We'll work it out one way or the other."

The sound Tim made was like a ghost of a laugh but that was okay. He relaxed. That was what counted. They both stiffened a moment later as Dick started knocking on Tim's door while babbling something about needing Tim's help with something in the cave. Tim growled, his relaxation slipping away at the same rate that Slade's calm did.

"You really need to move out of the Manor," Slade complained as Dick knocked harder.

"Dick!" Tim bellowed over Slade's chest loudly enough to make Slade start. "We're busy fucking! Go away!"

Dick's squawk of outrage got drowned out as Slade burst out laughing. Yeah, Tim needed to move away from his too-protective family. If Slade got really lucky, he might just get the keys to Tim's new place outright instead of having to steal them because there was no way he was letting Tim go anytime soon.

+++++

Slade looked up as the bedroom door opened. He hadn't expected Tim back for at least another couple of days. Seeing the kid standing in the doorway was a surprise, welcome, but a surprise. What made him raise an eyebrow was the exhaustion in Tim's stance. He leaned against the doorway and then trudged over to the bed to flop face down on the covers.

"No success?" Slade asked as he put aside his book and came over to rub the back of Tim's neck. His muscles were much more relaxed than Slade had expected.

"Mmngrff," Tim mumbled into the blankets.

"Kid, my ears are good but they're not that good," Slade chuckled. "One more time with some enunciation, please."

When Tim turned his face so that he could look up at Slade, there was laughter as well as exhaustion in his eyes. "No, we found him. He's back, more or less whole. Superman wanted to keep him for observation for a while. Not sure how long he'll manage to keep Bruce there but we'll see."

"Dicey?" Slade asked.

"Mmm, not good," Tim sighed. "Not quite end of the world but it was close."

He crawled into Slade's lap, draping his arms around Slade's neck before snuggling so close that Slade would have thought that he wanted sex. That wasn't likely though. Slade's nose told him just how tired Tim was. It was kind of shocking that the kid was this coherent when he must not have slept at all during the three days that he'd been gone.

Slade rubbed Tim's back as he laid back on the bed with Tim draped over his chest. There was a little grumble at the movement but as soon as they lay down together Tim sighed as if this was the best thing ever. Tim was as boneless as Slade had ever seen while conscious, nearly as loose as he was when he was fast asleep after a really good bondage session. He should probably make Tim strip down and get under the covers but it wouldn't hurt for him to catch a quick nap before dinner. Lord knows the kid probably hadn't eaten while he was gone, either.

It only took about two minutes before Tim was fast asleep. Slade smiled, sort of wishing that he'd brought his book over from the couch but not too upset about it. After all, it wasn't like they got many chances to just be together and with Daddy Bats back Slade was pretty sure that their not officially a real romance was going to have some very real opposition. Dick didn't count in either Slade or Tim's minds. Bruce most certainly would.

He fretted about that while Tim slept, doing his best not to convince himself that the right thing to do was to bow out and leave. The thought of abandoning Tim when he knew how much Tim wanted this to work made Slade's gut clench. Frankly, he wanted it too. Even if Bruce threw a fit, Slade knew that he'd have to fight for Tim. Literally. Well, hopefully not literally. Bruce generally had more sense than to take on a fight that he knew he couldn't win. Though Superman was just as likely to help Bruce so Slade spent a while plotting out ways to take both of them down long enough for Tim to get them to listen.

About an hour later Slade's ears picked up voices downstairs. They were far enough away that Slade couldn't make out anything other than the tones of the voices but Damian's snappishness was obvious, as was Dick's babble. The voice that made Slade tense enough that Tim grumbled and started to wake was a deep enough voice that he knew Bruce Wayne had returned home.

"Kid, I think he's home," Slade said as Tim blinked at him while rubbing his eyes.

"Bruce?" Tim asked, abruptly awake in ways that no one his age should ever be.

"Yeah," Slade sighed. "You tell him about us?"

"Ah, no," Tim admitted a little shame-facedly. "Not because I didn't want to but because he was bleeding from the ears and nose at the time. Superman was quite serious about getting him some medical treatment."

"Then Big Blue must have squealed on us because I'm pretty sure he's here," Slade said. "They're keeping their voices low and they're far enough away that I can't hear exactly what they're saying but it sounds like Bruce."

Tim glared at the door for a moment before sitting up and stretching. He looked better than he had when he came in, though obviously not at his best yet. Slade got up and offered Tim a hand that he took only to pull Slade into a hug that made his ribs creak. The loss/want scent was back, coupled with enough determination that Slade grinned into Tim's hair. Dick might try and convince Bruce to throw Slade out but he thought that it might backfire on the Bats. From the smell of him, Tim was quite determined to keep Slade around as long as possible.

"Don't try and fight this for me," Tim ordered once he let Slade go.

"No promises, kid," Slade said. He looked at the door as one set of heavy footsteps came up the stairs. "Incoming. He sounds about as exhausted as you."

"Not that he'd ever admit it," Tim muttered under his breath.

The door opened before Slade could comment that Tim was just as bad or worse than Bruce on that point. Frankly, Slade was pretty sure that Bruce had a secret mathematical formula in his head for exactly how much sleep he could miss while doing a specific amount of exercise and eating a precisely formulated diet. Tim just ran himself into the ground and then slept it off, or he did when Slade wasn't around to make him stop to take care of himself.

"Why is he here?" Bruce asked before Tim could say anything.

"Fox paid me to guard his back," Slade replied while Tim bristled at Bruce. "You talk to Cass or just Damian and Dick?"

The question made Bruce pause to stare at him while Tim elbowed Slade in the gut. Tim's annoyance with Slade talking for him made Slade grin and back off a step with his hands up. Bruce started frowning again once Slade did it. He had to wonder if Bruce had gotten any sleep at all because he really did look even more wiped than Tim had been.

"He's here because the League of Shadows is after me," Tim explained, "there's a huge problem with a new group of assassins called the Council of Spiders who seem to have decided that I'm a perfect target, not to mention that there's a tournament of assassins going on. Do ask Cass about that. She got one of the invitations and I believe she'd been digging for more information on it. Plus the regular patrols, proving that you weren't dead, dealing with Ra's being creepy and oh, yes, I actually care about him quite a lot and I want him here."

The bitterness in the last bit made Bruce's head rear back. He looked at the door for a moment before staring at Slade.

"You?" Bruce asked.

"Use your words," Slade grumbled at him. "I swear. The two of you need to work on actually communicating."

"Why are you here?" Bruce asked with not one bit of amusement even though Tim snorted and grinned.

"I'm being paid and..." Slade took a deep breath because actually saying it out loud wasn't something that he felt ready to do even if it was the right thing to say at the right time. He wasn't sure he'd ever feel ready to admit it. "I love him."

Tim turned to stare at Slade with such a fierce blush that his ears turned red. The admission made Bruce stare at Slade as if he'd suddenly grown a second pair of arms and turned purple. His shock disappeared into that same disapproving frown when Tim caught Slade's hand and squeezed. He couldn't see Tim's expression once he turned back to Bruce but Slade had to believe it was fierce and defiant. Bruce actually winced before sighing.

Bruce's scent shifted from determination to pain as he straightened up to look down his nose at the two of them. The look wasn't half as impressive as it should have been, not in small part because of the pain Bruce was so poorly hiding. Slade frowned at him, not surprised that Tim seemed to have picked up on Bruce's condition as well. He walked over and caught Bruce's arm, keeping him from leaving or maybe from picking a fight with Slade when he obviously wasn't in any condition for a battle. Bruce stared down into Tim's eyes as the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes deepened.

"You need to rest," Tim told Bruce. "You're in no shape to be up and around."

"Granted," Bruce said to Slade's surprise. "The reports of your… involvement… prompted me to return immediately. I had planned on spending some time away from Gotham before coming home."

That made Tim sigh and glare at the door. Slade snorted his agreement. The really annoying thing was that everyone in the hero community had to know by now but no one other than Dick and Steph was willing to talk to Tim directly about it. He wasn't at all surprised that no one had talked to Slade about their relationship. None of them had the balls to do it. Well, Steph had but that was Steph. She seemed to operate under her own set of rules. It was part of why Slade liked her, not that he was going to admit that out loud where she could hear it. He'd never hear the end of it if he did.

"I'm more than old enough to make my own choices romantically, Bruce," Tim murmured. "Slade makes me happy. He takes good care of me. Neither of us is trying to change the other and currently our goals don't conflict. When that changes, our relationship will change or end. We both agree on that point."

Bruce looked at Slade as if to confirm that what Tim had said was true. Slade nodded. This probably wasn't the time to say that Slade was willing to do one hell of a lot to make sure that their goals didn't conflict over time. He wouldn't give up his career but then Tim was far more fluid in his morals than Bruce would ever be. They might be able to make it work if the people around them gave them a chance. If they didn't, so be it, but Slade found that he wanted things to work out with Tim. The thought of being with him in twenty, thirty or more years was seriously enticing.

"I'm not pleased with this," Bruce said as he rubbed his face with his free hand, "but you're right. You are old enough to make your own choices. Tell me about the Council of Spiders."

"Get some sleep first," Slade huffed. He glowered as Bruce glared at him. "I'm serious. It's handled for the moment. You and Tim both need to sleep. And eat. I'm willing to bet that neither of you have eaten recently. You're safe. He's safe. Get some rest before you start working again."

Tim's lips twitched with amusement that Slade would mother-hen Bruce the way he did Tim. It clearly didn't amuse Bruce half as much but he glanced at the door as if expecting someone to come through it at any second. Slade grinned. If that wasn't Bruce knowing in his bones that Alfred was on his way to make him sleep and eat, Slade was a pacifist.

"Alfred?" Slade asked.

"Yes," Bruce sighed. He rubbed his face again before nodding. "I want a full report on everything that's happened while I was gone."

"Already written," Tim said. "They're in the system. Block out about four hours. The reports are quite detailed."

Bruce nodded. He leveled another fierce but ultimately ineffective glare at Slade before leaving the bedroom. To Slade's amusement Alfred was outside with a tray full of food. His stern look made Bruce visibly flinch. The door closed before Slade could see which way Bruce and Alfred went but Slade had every faith that Alfred would get Bruce to take the minimum level of rest and food. Whether he managed to make Bruce really rest was debatable. Tim snorted and shook his head as if to dismiss the entire conversation. He went right back to bed, collapsing on the covers once more. Slade chuckled and grabbed his book before rejoining Tim.

"That went better than expected," Tim mumbled into the pillow.

"I suppose," Slade agreed as he found his spot and started reading again. "Gonna have to do it again once you've both gotten enough sleep."

"I don't want to think about it," Tim complained.

"So don't," Slade chuckled. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you in time for dinner."

That made Tim smile. He relaxed into sleep within moments which said one hell of a lot about how tired he actually was. Slade shook his head. Granted, it was good that Bruce was back. They needed him here to keep Ra's out of Wayne Industries, not to mention Dick just wasn't the best Batman around. Dick couldn't stop quipping to save his life, literally. But Slade really did wish that Tim (and the rest of his family) took better care of themselves. Not that Slade had much cause to talk given his own tendency to overwork himself. It didn't really matter, not now. Slade shrugged off his worries about the problems facing Tim and his continuing doubts about their relationship.

"We'll work it out," Slade whispered to Tim's sleeping face. "Somehow or the other, we'll work it out."

+++++

"I'm getting really sick of this," Slade growled through the comms.

"I certainly don't disagree with you," Tim said as he fought off yet another of the spider themed assassins from the Council of Spiders. "It's getting a bit ridiculous."

"Duck."

Cass' calm comment made Tim drop to the roof. He missed seeing exactly what she did to the four-armed metahuman assassin but smiled at the way the man scrambled at the roof top before slipping over the edge. It was somewhat comforting to hear the snap of the line Cass had attached to him though at this point Tim was almost ready to subscribe to Slade's belief that the only proper way to handle an assassin attacking you was to eliminate him.

"Okay?" Cass asked.

"I'm fine," Tim said as he stood once more.

"You better be," Slade snarled as he swung down and landed on the roof next to them, minus his cowl as he hadn't been taking the night's battles terribly seriously. "This shit is getting ridiculous."

He pulled Tim close, doing a quick visual and physical examination to confirm that Tim actually was okay. Other than a few bruises that wouldn't turn purple for until tomorrow he was fine. The bone deep bruise on his rib from the battle the previous day was tender but not debilitating and his lightly sprained ankle wasn't giving him too much trouble. The brace and wrapping that Slade had done kept it from being an issue. Slade nodded his satisfaction at Tim's condition, prompting Tim to smack him in the arm and Cass to smirk at the two of them. She apparently strongly approved of the changes they'd made since her revelation in the Cave

They hauled the Council assassin Goliath up over the edge of the roof. To Tim and Slade's amusement the metahuman was out cold, a tranquilizer dart buried in his hairy chest. Cass smirked as she helped them bind the metahuman's multiple arms behind his back. Even with his gauntlets the hairy spines on Goliath's body stung Tim's hands. Hopefully the reaction to them would be minimal as Tim had already used up what little antitoxin he had on his pouch during his earlier encounter with Sac. 

He mentally ran through the Council's assassins. The Widower was dead, killed by Slade in the Middle East. Recluse had been captured by Bruce and Dick two days ago in a pitched battle that was still playing on all the news channels. Funnel and Wolf had been captured last night by Steph and Damian, despite the way the two of them had snarked at each other during the battle. Jason had taken down Tangle by himself earlier in the evening. The only reason that Tim knew about it was that Oracle had informed him of it after Jason dropped Tangle off with the GCPD.

"That all of them?" Slade asked.

"No, we still have the Wanderer to catch," Tim said.

"Where is she?" Cass asked, presumably to Oracle as she was looking out over the city rather than at Tim and Slade.

Before Oracle could answer the question Slade shouted and dropped to one knee. Tim had his staff up and moving before he turned, already knowing what he'd see. The Wanderer was there, glaring at Tim as if he was personally responsible for everything that had happened to her group of assassins. Granted, he was at least partially responsible but he certainly wasn't the only person behind her Council's fall. That hardly mattered as she stabbed at him with two stiff fingers, attempting to touch the bare skin on his chin. He blocked and knocked her hand away. The venom coating her skin would be more than enough to kill him if she landed any touches.

"You!" Wanderer shouted as she continued to attack. "You will die for this!"

"Not today," Tim said.

He allowed himself to be pushed back by her attack, drawing her further away from Slade who looked as though he was having trouble breathing. The spot she'd touched on his neck was swollen and red, a white center already oozing puss. Cass touched his shoulder, only to pull back abruptly and then run over to Tim and the Wanderer. Slade's expression when Tim briefly met his eyes was furious and desperately worried for Tim.

That moment of distraction almost ended Tim's life. Wanderer's rigid fingers nearly impacted his chin, only missing because Tim pulled back at the last instant. Instead they impacted against his cowl with enough force that he knew he'd have a black eye tomorrow. Cass went after the Wanderer as well, clawing the woman's back and nearly getting poisoned fingers to the throat for her trouble. Tim attacked, jabbing his staff into the Wanderer's right kidney. She shouted and kicked at him only to get a powerful kick in the head from Cass. That made her stumble but not fall, prompting breathy curses from Slade.

"Enough," Slade growled.

The shot startled Tim even though he'd know that Slade had brought his guns out tonight. Cass hissed at him. To Tim's relief, the Wanderer's eyes rolled back in her head. She collapsed in a heap on the rooftop, brown curls draped around a face that might have been pretty if only her insanity didn't show while she was asleep. Blood spread around her head. Only then did Tim realize that Slade had used real bullets instead of tranquilizers.

He stared at her spreading blood for a moment as he tried to work out exactly what he felt about that. While there was a bit of horror, mostly Tim was relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about how the GCPD would keep her imprisoned or the possibility of her escaping to attack again. When added to the simple fact that she'd been the organizing force behind the Council Tim decided that he wasn't upset about Slade killing her. Tim wasn't sure what that said about his morals and wasn't sure he wanted to explore the issue.

"Dead?" Cass asked in a tone that suggested she was relieved as well. She looked at Slade who wheezed a groan and sagged further towards the rooftop.

"Slade!" Tim said, bypassing Cass to go and check on Slade. "I told you that you should have worn your cowl!"

"Weren't wrong about that," Slade panted. The swelling from the mark on his neck was as big as Tim's fist.

Slade bit back a curse as Tim pulled out bandages and quickly lanced the wound. The puss that oozed out was faintly green. Neither of them commented on how unlikely it was that Slade would survive the venom. Tim couldn't help but believe that he was going to watch his lover die and he knew Slade wouldn't accept that his healing might not be up to this challenge. It took all of Tim's bandages, all of Cass' and then the few that Slade kept in his belt pouch before the wound stopped oozing puss and began to bleed fitfully.

"He got hit?" Dick asked behind Tim.

"Wanderer?" Bruce asked.

"Yes," Cass replied for Tim. "She is dead."

Bruce's growl told Tim everything he needed to know about the argument that was going to happen when they got back to the Cave. It had been brewing ever since Bruce's return. Slade killing a target on patrol was guaranteed to make it into a nasty argument. Tim helped Slade stand, propping himself under Slade's armpit so that he wouldn't fall over. Damian was there along with Dick and Bruce, watching Slade and Tim with a surprising amount of respect in his eyes.

"We're going back to base," Tim announced. He raised his chin when Bruce growled again. "Do whatever you want, Batman. He needs proper treatment."

"Red Robin…" Dick said while holding out a hand as if to stop them.

"We're leaving," Tim snarled at him.

Tim couldn't help but be grateful that he'd chosen to drive the Redbird tonight rather than his Ducati. It was a struggle to get Slade to the Redbird. If they'd had to balance on the back of the Ducati there was no way they would have made it home. Once they were in motion again Slade put on hand on Tim's knee. He was still breathing too harshly, air sucked through a throat that was far too tight. Worse still, his skin was clammy and far too pale.

"I'll live," Slade said.

"We'll see," Tim replied.

Slade snorted, smiling wryly at Tim. "Seriously, kid. I'll live. Just not going to be happy about it for a couple of hours. Her venom was a hell of a lot more concentrated than anything I've encountered for years. You ready for the big fight?"

"Very."

The sheer grimness of Tim's tone made Slade snort but his eyes were worried, not amused. They made the rest of the trip in silence though Tim knew Slade was listening to the comm chatter the same way that he did. From the sound of it Damian had reported the Wanderer's body, explaining to the police that Deathstroke had taken her down. A Hazmat team was on the way to secure her corpse as absolutely no one wanted to risk dying from accidentally touching her. When Tim switched to the police scanners no one among the police seemed to feel there was any need to follow up on the killing. In fact, the majority seemed to feel that Deathstroke deserved a bonus for getting rid of her.

Alfred was waiting with the medical supplies once Tim drove into the Cave. His disapproving expression slid into the one that was faintly surprised when Tim had to support Slade so that he could walk to the gurney. They spent the next half hour cleaning out the wound. Tim was relatively certain that he was going to have nightmares filled with puss and blood for the next couple of weeks. It felt like it took forever before the wound began to heal. Slade sighed as soon as it began to fade, already looking better.

"Told you," Slade said while squeezing Tim's hand fondly.

"Yes, well, Bruce has yet to return, you know," Tim countered.

That got a snort from Slade and a very brief, very wry smile from Alfred. As he put the supplies away, Alfred sighed. Tim cleaned up the mess, making sure every bit of contaminated material ended up in the bio hazard containment unit.

"Shall I ensure that your things are packed, Master Timothy?" Alfred asked as if it was a foregone conclusion.

"Do," Slade said when Tim hesitated. "Easy enough to unpack if it turns out to be unnecessary. Already got my stuff packed up."

"I don't think you ever unpacked," Tim commented. "Yes, please, Alfred. I suspect that we're going to need a bit of distance after Bruce gets back."

"Very good, sir," Alfred said. "Do remain prone, Mr. Wilson. You are still healing and it would be most unfortunate if you were to suffer a relapse."

He sounded almost happy about that thought which made Slade snicker. Tim wasn't sure what exactly was going on between Alfred and Slade but the snippier and more disapproving Alfred was the happier Slade seemed to be about it. There was probably some complicated history from Slade's life before he met Tim going on that Tim hadn't heard about but so far it hadn't been important enough to make Tim ask about it. Alfred excelled at polite disapproval and Slade enjoyed it. It was much easier to simply let it be.

Unfortunately, there was no chance to let things be with Bruce. Tim had known that from the moment he'd gotten involved with Slade. At the time he'd assumed that they would have broken up long before Bruce came back but that hadn't happened. All of his plans for the confrontation were probably going to be worthless. Bruce tended to be far better at planning and much more ruthless than Tim.

"Don't fuss over it, Tim," Slade murmured. "Seriously. You'll yell. He'll yell. You'll go on with your life. You're an emancipated minor. You don't owe him anything that you don't want to give."

"Lessons learned?" Tim asked.

"You could say that," Slade said with a wry smile. "Could also say that it's a simple observation."

Tim didn't reply. They both could hear the Batmobile approaching. Normally Tim would have moved to the computers or waited to report but Tim already knew that this was going to be anything but a normal after-patrol night. When Bruce got out he was already scowling. His eyes landed first on Tim and then on Slade who sighed and relaxed back against the gurney's pillow as if this was nothing to be concerned about.

As Bruce stalked over Tim had a flash of realization that it actually was nothing to be concerned about.

He didn't have to put up with this. Tim blinked, fingers curled around Slade's hand as thoughts tumbled one after the other through his mind so fast that they were barely more than flashes of images and feelings. All his life he'd followed Batman and Robin. He'd been there in the shadows, worshipping the legend and the man behind it. But Tim wasn't in the shadows anymore. Robin was gone, given to Damian who Tim had to admit was improving the more time he spent interacting with Dick. He'd improved even more since he met Slade and began to learn his code of honor. Now Tim was Red Robin, a hero in his own right, with his own code. Bruce's way was his. There was nothing binding Tim to follow Bruce's lead other than his belief in the man he'd traveled around the world to save.

"Get out," Bruce growled at Slade.

"We'll both leave," Tim said, startling both Slade and Bruce.

"Tim..." Bruce said in a growl that was more than half surprise.

"No, Bruce," Tim replied. "You don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I'm not Robin. I'm not your partner anymore. I'm not even officially one of the Bats as far as the public is concerned."

"He's a murderer," Bruce countered, voice rising just a hair, just enough to make Dick and Damian's eyes go wide as they arrived in the Cave.

"He saved my life and Cass' life while suffering from a near-lethal attack," Tim said with just a bit more volume than he should have. Well, more than a bit. The words echoed through the Cave, making the bats squeak and flutter overhead. "His methods have never been yours. You know that. Nevertheless, he saved my life and Cass' tonight."

Bruce pushed back his cowl, revealing hair messy with sweat and wrinkles that shouted of worry that hadn't been visible before. Tim's breath caught for a moment because he knew those wrinkles. He'd seen them in the mirror so many times while hunting for proof that Bruce was okay. Honestly, he'd seen them in the mirror for years before that, before he became Robin and after. Instead of saying that he'd been worried about Tim, Bruce squared his jaw and attempted to glare at Slade. All he got in return was a raised eyebrow that so eloquently said 'seriously?' that Bruce winced.

When he turned that glare on Tim it made Tim's hackles go up. Not because he resented the worry or Bruce's complete inability to communicate, but because there was a clear request in Bruce's expression to get rid of Slade. Tim glared back, more fury in his heart than he would have thought possible.

"No," Tim snarled viciously enough that Dick, Damian and Bruce all backed off a step. "I will not give him up, Bruce. I've given up everything else in my life for you and the Mission. I will not give Slade up too."

"Hey, what?" Slade asked, sitting up and wincing as the movement pulled the still-healing injury on his neck. "He didn't say that."

"He didn't have to," Tim answered while glaring at Bruce who looked away. "We know each other well enough to read the looks and silence, Slade."

"He's an assassin," Bruce said, meeting Tim's eyes with a much more apologetic expression this time.

"So is Damian and he's welcome here," Tim countered. "But then he's something that you want and what you want is allowed. What I want is always to be reconsidered and put on hold until it's convenient, isn't it? I gave up my childhood for you Bruce. My home, my hobbies, my friends, my family. I gave up my education, my dreams. Everything. Well, this is one thing that's just for me. Slade makes me happy. Deal with it. Come on."

Tim tugged at Slade's hand, still clenched in Tim's fingers. Slade stood, supporting himself against the gurney for a moment before nodding that his legs were stable enough to be able to walk freely. Bruce looked like he'd been stabbed. Behind him, Dick had his arms around Damian who looked as though he wanted to follow them, except for the way he clung to Dick's wrists.

"Where will you go?" Bruce asked in a blatant apology that was anything but an apology. It almost came out as a threat.

"That's none of your business, Bruce," Tim snapped even though he made sure to keep his expression marginally polite. He didn't want to burn all his bridges. "Where I choose to live is entirely up to me. I'm not your son. I'm emancipated. I can do as I wish."

All three of them, Bruce, Dick and Damian winced, Dick with the guiltiest expression that Tim had seen for quite a while. Tim ignored it, ignored all of them, pulling Slade to the locker room so that they could change into street clothes. Normally Tim would have showered but he wasn't going to give Bruce the chance to argue them into staying. Slade was remarkably quiet as they changed and then went to gather their things from Tim's room. Alfred had in fact packed for Tim, filling a suitcase with approximately two weeks worth of clothing.

Slade chuckled. "So, two week vacation?"

"Probably not," Tim said with a wry smile that was more directed at himself than Slade. "I doubt I'd be able to stay away for that long. But I do have a place that I've been getting remodeled. It should be ready in a couple of days."

He swallowed, not quite ready to ask Slade to live with him long-term. From the way Slade looked at him, he was quite aware of what Tim wasn't saying. Slade smiled and ran a thumb over Tim's bottom lip in just the right way to promise the kinky things that they both enjoyed so much. He grabbed his bag and Tim grabbed his suitcase as well as the duffle containing his suit. When they went outside the bedroom and down the stairs to the garage, Damian was there. Dick and Bruce were not.

"You are leaving," Damian stated except that it wasn't a statement at all, not given the uncertainty in his eyes.

"Moving out again," Tim said with a not quite casual shrug that threatened to dump his duffle to the floor. He caught it, shifting the strap on his shoulder. "My theatre should be ready in a couple of days for me to move in."

"I am certain that the Manor will be much better off without you," Damian sniffed. 

He crossed his arms over his chest as if he was trying to hug himself. Slade shook his head as he dropped his gear. When he knelt down in front of Damian, it made Damian shuffle his feet nervously for a moment. After a moment Slade pulled Damian into a hug that was received about as well as hugging a statue, though Damian's hands clenched in Slade's shirt and he leaned into the hug more than would be expected for the stubborn boy.

"We'll be around," Slade said once he let Damian go. "You can always ask more questions, Damian."

Damian opened his mouth and then shut it, nodding that he understood. Tim didn't attempt to hug him. Despite the way that Slade and Damian had connected, Tim didn't think that Damian would welcome comfort from Tim. Maybe someday that would change but for now Tim contented himself with smiling wryly at Damian. The way Damian eyed him as though he was thinking of stabbing Tim on sheer principle made Tim glad that he hadn't tried for a hug of his own.

"Tell Dick he's welcome to visit as long as he's polite," Tim told Damian. "And let Cass know that she's free to come by anytime."

"So is Steph," Slade said. He grinned when both Tim and Damian glared at him. "What? She's fun. Got a great right hook."

Tim snorted a laugh. "Okay, Steph too. See you around, Damian."

"Not if I see you first," Damian called as they got into the Redbird. 

Slade's grin made Damian raise his chin as if daring Slade to tell him to take that back. Instead Slade waved at Damian as Tim drove them away. It felt very strange to be leaving the Manor this way but Tim didn't care at this moment. Once he calmed down, got over his worry for Slade, his relief that the Council was dealt with, Tim knew that he'd feel guilty for leaving this way. Maybe by then he'd actually be able to have a proper discussion of the situation with Bruce but he doubted that. Either way, Slade was right. Tim was free to live his life as he chose and for now he chose to live it with Slade by his side.

Whatever else happened in the future happened. For now, Tim was happy and that was too rare of an event for him to pass it by.

+++++

Kon grinned as he and Bart reappeared in their proper place in time. Sure, they were off in some corn field, hopefully in Kansas, but at least they were back where they belonged. When. Whatever. Bart whooped and ran loops around Kon only to dash over and hug him while vibrating with delight.

"When are we?" Bart asked. He zipped away and then came back a moment later with a newspaper. "Um, wow. It's been a year, Kon. We've been gone for a year."

"Aw, man, really?" Kon asked.

He checked the newspaper and winced. Yeah, one year later than he'd died. It was kind of creepy reading the paper because it had a bunch of articles detailing what had happened during the last year and what his and Bart's 'lasting legacies' were. Bart made a thoughtful noise before zipping away and coming back with a bunch of papers that he speed-read. Once he was done he took all the papers and disappeared somewhere to recycle them, returning to Kon's side less than a second later.

"We gotta tell everyone we're back," Bart said.

"Yeah," Kon agreed. 

He focused and found Cassie's voice pretty easily. She was busy fighting someone who grunted a lot but it sounded like she was winning so that was okay. When he focused on Tim, the sounds were similar but whoa, totally different. Tim sounded like he was having the hottest of hot sex which sort of surprised Kon. He hadn't thought Tim really did that all that much.

"What?" Bart asked.

"Um, Cassie is okay, I think," Kon said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "but um, Tim's um, occupied. Busy. Um, really busy."

"Does he need help?" Bart asked, vibrating as if he was a millisecond away from darting off to Tim's side.

"No!" Kon squawked. "Geez, Bart, no. No, no, no, no. Not that sort of busy. Cassie's in a fight. She's probably appreciate help with it but um, no. Not Tim. He's um… _busy-busy_."

The grunts and moans, little whines, that Kon could hear coming from Tim and his, whoa yeah that's a guy, partner made Kon's face blaze in a fierce blush. It took a second for Bart to realize what Kon was implying. Once he did he grinned at Kon's embarrassment. Bart nodded and hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

"So let's go help Cassie and then tell everyone else that we're home," Bart said. "We can say hi to Tim once he's not so _busy_."

"Good idea!" Kon said just a bit too enthusiastically but Bart didn't call him on it other than grinning and wagging his eyebrows at Kon.

Okay, so maybe it was way too enthusiastically but come on, Kon wasn't used to hearing Tim that way. And really, weren't they done yet? Kon kept on asking himself that as they went and helped Cassie with her fight, after which they got hugged until even Kon's bones creaked. She insisted that they check with Gar and Raven, Vic too, so that got them more hugs and more welcomes from people. Tim and his guy weren't done yet. They'd switched from straight-up enthusiastic fucking to something that sounded a heck of a lot like slow motion sex where you were trying to drag it out forever in an effort to keep from coming your brains out.

Half an hour after that Tim and his partner shifted and suddenly Kon was absolutely convinced that Tim was riding the guy. It was really hard to be sure from the sounds but hey, it sounded just like that time when Cassie rode him and darn it, he shouldn't be listening to this but Kon really wanted to let Tim know that he was back. From what Cassie and the others had said Tim took his death really, really, really badly. He deserved to know.

Not that Kon was going to interrupt Tim's all-day-sexathon, which is what it sure seemed to be. As he went back to the farm to tell Ma and Clark that he was back Kon heard Tim and his guy stop for a breather. From the sound of it they went to the kitchen and started making food but somehow that ended up with Tim getting a blow job and whoever the guy was fingering the hell out of Tim in the process. Even Ma's hugs weren't enough to distract him from Tim's date or whatever it was.

"Conner Kent," Ma said loudly enough that Kon knew that he'd missed something that she'd said to him at least four times. "Are you listening to a word I say?"

"Um, sorry Ma," Kon apologized with hopefully enough sincerity that she'd believe him. "I'm just sort of listening to Tim. Everyone said that he took my death really hard and I want to go talk to him but he's um, busy, and um, I don't want to interrupt him."

"Well, stop listening to Tim and pay attention to where you are and what you're doing," Ma said. She paused as Clark looked towards Gotham and then went bright red. "Clark. Don't you start, too. We already had that conversation."

Kon stared at her and then at Clark. While Ma seemed a little disgusted by it Clark looked worried. He put his hands on his hips but all that did was make Clark sigh and wince while Ma patted Kon's elbow. In Gotham, Tim and his guy, whoever it was, sounded like they'd finally gotten back to the food. Tim was laughing so freely and happily that Kon couldn't help but feel good about whoever it was that he'd hooked up with. It was a little weird that Tim didn't say his name. He only said 'Sir', but hey, Tim always had been a little freaky. Being freaky about sex was pretty normal for Tim.

"What?" Kon asked.

"I can't say that I approve of Tim's… partner," Ma sighed. "Clark swears that they seem to be good for each other but I just worry that it's going to end badly for the poor boy. It's not as if Slade has ever been very stable."

"Wait, who?" Kon asked as the name 'Slade' stuck in his brain on a dozen battles with Deathstroke. It didn't fit with the laughing man who was hugging Tim in Gotham. "Are you saying he's with _Deathstroke,_ Ma?"

Kon floated up in the air even though he really didn't think he wanted to go bust in on Tim's private time, even if he was dating Slade Wilson of all people. Ma caught his wrist and dragged him towards the kitchen table. Clark followed along which mean that Kon was about to get a lecture or maybe Clark was. He wasn't sure given that Ma didn't seem to approve of their relationship but Clark did. As Ma got hot chocolate and marshmallows going for them, Kon sat down and stared at Clark who fidgeted, sighed and when shrugged.

"I have been listening," Clark told Kon but the words were obviously aimed at Ma who stiffened as if annoyed at Clark. "I don't like it that much but Slade seems to be taking very good care of Tim. He… he went through a really bad patch after you died, Kon."

"I was so worried about him," Ma sighed as she brought the mugs back to the table. Kon's mug had three marshmallows but Clark only had one. "The poor boy lost almost everyone he cared about in one fell swoop and no one seemed to reach out to him. I really do think you all could have handled his 'Bruce isn't dead' thing better, Clark."

"I know, I know," Clark sighed as he poked his single marshmallow with a spoon, pouring hot chocolate over the top of it to melt it. "I wanted to help but you know I'm not welcome in Gotham, Ma."

Ma grumbled something that would have been profanity if it had been anyone else. As always, she didn't have any marshmallows at all so she could sip her cocoa and wince at the temperature of it. Kon watched them both instead of stirring or drinking his cocoa. When Kon cocked his head both Ma and Clark looked at him.

"How bad of a bad patch are we talking here?" Kon asked. "Seriously. It's Tim. He's a little weird about things, you know."

"He tried to clone you, Kon," Clark said so softly and quietly that it was hard to hear the words. "For a while there we were all worried that he was going crazy. But no, he wasn't. He never did succeed on the cloning thing."

"Thank goodness!" Kon interrupted to exclaim.

"But he was quite right about Bruce not being dead," Clark continued with a nod of agreement.

Explaining how Bruce could die but not actually die took a while. Ma and Clark explained all the stuff he'd missed, or at least they hit the highlights. Kon listened and fretted. Tim really had gone through way too much in way, way, way too short a period. Seriously, his mom died, losing Robin, getting it back, losing his dad, then Steph, Kon, Bart and losing Robin for real on top of Bruce seeming to die; it was too much for anyone to bear.

"And Slade showed up right at the end of all that," Kon said thoughtfully. He glanced towards Gotham. It sounded like Tim and Slade were finally done having sex. Slade was in the shower while Tim changed the sheets on their bed. "He backed Tim up?"

"Yes," Clark confirmed despite Ma's huff of disbelief. "They keep saying that their relationship is temporary but they're actually very good for each other. I don't really understand it, frankly, but I see no reason to interfere, especially given that Dick and Bruce both strongly disapprove."

"What about Cass, Steph and Alfred?" Kon asked. "What do they say?"

"Cass thinks they should get married," Ma sighed.

"Stephanie disliked Slade at first but she's seemed to change her attitude in the last couple of weeks," Clark said. "And I'm not sure what Alfred thinks. He seems to disapprove sometimes but he's scolded Dick in private for being too harsh about the relationship."

Kon nodded. This was all good to know but it didn't really matter. He had to ask Tim himself. Heck, he had to tell Tim that he was back. Right now Tim was probably the only person in the superhero community that didn't know he was back and that was just whack. Tim was the first, well second, person that Kon wanted to tell. Cassie needed to know too but Tim was just as important. They were best friends since forever and Kon needed to go see him right now.

He drank the last of his hot chocolate and stood. Ma frowned at him for a moment until she saw the determined expression on Kon's face. Then she shook her head while chuckling and collecting their empty mugs. Clark stood as well, smiling at Kon as if he could see what Kon intended to do. Neither Ma nor Clark told him to stay or anything.

"Don't stay too late, dear," Ma said. "Now that you're back you can help me with the farm again. Clark's usually too busy to do much."

"I won't, Ma," Kon promised. "Wish me luck!"

He flew out of the house before either of them could say the world 'luck' but that didn't matter because he heard them both say it as he flew to Gotham. No surprise, Gotham was still dark and dingy with gray buildings that had way too many gargoyles. It was raining, another thing that was way too normal for Gotham. What wasn't normal and Kon knew it was a guy flying outside of your bedroom window and tapping on it but he did it anyway.

Tim's head whipped around when Kon tapped, his eyes going so wide that Kon thought about reaching inside and catching him with his TTK. Instead Tim squawked something that brought Slade out of the shower dripping wet. Where he'd grabbed a sword from Kon had no clue but that hardly mattered.

"Kon?" Tim asked in such a shaky voice that Kon went ahead and unlocked the window so he could go inside.

"Hey," Kon said while wishing that Slade had grabbed a towel instead of a sword. He really didn't need to see that. "I'm back. I wanted to come straight here and tell you but um, you were kind of busy. You know, busy-busy."

Slade snorted, one hand on Tim's shoulder while Tim blushed so brightly that he all but radiated. The look Slade fixed on Kon made it perfectly clear that if he upset Tim there would be highly deadly consequences to pay. Kon glared back at him; like he was going to hurt Tim. He was Kon's best friend. After a moment where Tim just stared at Kon as if unsure that he was really there, Kon jerked his chin at Slade.

"You're dripping on the floor, dude," Kon said.

Both Slade and Tim looked down, Slade with a raised eyebrow and Tim with a little snort of amusement that wasn't terribly amused. He pushed Slade back towards the bathroom. They did some sort of silent communication thing where their eyes asked questions that twitches of their mouths and eyebrows answered. Slade nodded and kissed Tim gently enough that Kon felt kind of stunned. This really wasn't the same guy that they'd fought or who'd hurt Rose so badly. Once he was back in the shower Tim sighed.

"You're really here," Tim said as if he wasn't sure of it.

"Dude, yeah, really here," Kon replied. "Um, maybe living room. I don't need to see you two naked. Like, at all. Seriously. I mean, not a big deal but well, yeah. Um, living room?"

That made Tim actually laugh. He grabbed a T-shirt to put over his loose sweat pants, shrugging into it while gesturing for Kon to follow him. The apartment was okay. Nothing high class or really great. Kon thought it might be one of Tim's safe houses or for one of his other identities. He landed by the couch and watched as Tim puttered around. Eventually Kon reached out and grabbed Tim, pulling him into a hug that made Tim go stiff for way too long.

"I'm alive, Tim," Kon murmured. "I'm back."

"Kon…" Tim moaned.

He finally relaxed, clinging to Kon as if afraid that he'd be taken away again. The shower shut off but Slade didn't come out. Instead he dried off and then finished making the bed, apparently to give them the time to talk. Kon smiled into Tim's hair and then pulled back enough that he could actually sort of see Tim's face. Tim took a little longer to pull back but when he did he was smiling with tears shining in his eyes.

"So um, Slade Wilson?" Kon asked. "How'd that happen?"

"Long story," Tim sighed as if expecting to get yelled at for it. "He was there when I needed him and we have highly complementary kinks."

"No, no sex talk!" Kon squawked as he clapped his hands over his ears. "Dude, I hear enough. I don't need to know any details. Spare me, please!"

Tim started snickering, that wicked look in his eyes as if he was thinking of telling Kon every single detail of what he and Slade did together just so that he could watch Kon twitch. Instead he waved a hand at Kon to sit down. Kon peered at him suspiciously enough that Tim laughed louder. Once Tim was smiling instead of worrying Kon did sit down on the couch. It wasn't as uncomfortable as he expected from the ugly upholstery on it.

"Really though," Kon said. "How did you two get together? Clark thinks you two are good for each other. Ma said that Cass approves."

"Cass thinks we should get married and stay together for the rest of our lives," Tim corrected in that dry tone that said that he loved the idea but thought it was wildly impractical. "And it truly was as simple as Slade being there when I needed him. Being what I needed."

"Not like you're not good for me too," Slade called from the bedroom. "Where'd you put my bag?"

"Closet," Tim called back. "In the back. I didn't think we'd need clothes until tomorrow."

"Dude!" Kon whined just to see if he could get both Tim and Slade to laugh.

It worked. Slade's laugh was a booming thing, no surprise given his size. Tim's was another snicker. A moment later Slade came in wearing worn out old yoga pants and a tight T-shirt that might actually be Tim's. He sat next to Tim and pulled him into his arms with enough of a challenge in his one good eye that Kon ignored it. No way was he taking on Deathstroke and Tim at the same time. That was a very fast route to the Kryptonite express and Kon just was not going to go there.

"You look happy," Kon commented. Both Tim and Slade stared at him. "Dude, you have any idea how rare it is for you to actually look happy? This is like, momentous, you know."

"I'm not unhappy all the time," Tim complained while leaning into Slade's side.

"You're not happy either," Kon countered. "I can think of all sorts of words to describe the way you normally are but happy isn't one of them. I think I like it. You better not hurt him, though. Tim deserves way better than that."

"Only in ways he likes," Slade said and whoa, that was a promise.

Kon blinked at the promise until the meaning of Slade's words registered. "Dude, no details! Come on! I do not ever need to know that. Oh man, I mean it's not like I don't know that Tim's into all sorts of kinky shit but no way do I want to know just what."

Tim cackled as he took Slade's free hand. "He's a Super. You have to excuse his innate innocence."

That made Slade laugh and Kon groan. They really did look happy together though. Kon shook his head and nudged Tim's knee with his TTK. It made Tim start and then smile as though his heart hurt. Kon squeezed the knee gently and the smile got a little more real, a lot less pained. Slade's expression shifted to something vaguely approving, not that Kon was going to think about that right now.

"I'm glad you're back," Tim murmured.

"Me and Bart both, actually," Kon said. "Hey, if I tell you what happened to us will you give me the story of what happened to you? Minus all the kinky stuff I really do not need to know. Cassie and the others told me some of it but I'd like to know everything if you have the time."

"I'll go make some food," Slade said as if it was a foregone conclusion that Tim would explain. He stood, going to the kitchen. "Tell him the details, too, kid. Might do him some good."

Tim's laugh was contagious enough that after Kon was done whining he joined in with the laughter. He squirmed around on the couch until he could look at Tim without craning his neck. Tim did the same so that their feet pressed against each other.

"It's a long story," Tim said, this time in a hopeful way instead of the dismissive one he'd used earlier.

"Dude, I got as much time as you'll give me, now and whenever you need to talk," Kon said. "Lay it on me."

The End


End file.
